Rewriting seaweed DNA to eat plastics

Beaches covered with tons of PET bottles, seabirds with stomachs full of plastic, fish suffocating in a free-floating plastic bag. Human waste decimates not only nature but also its originators. Microplastics pose a significant problem, with these small fragments contaminating four-fifths of all drinking water. This year, in response to the “planetary crisis”, the UN has launched a “decade of ecosystem restoration”, during which it will try to “save the earth”. Paradoxically, the smallest seaweed may contribute to solving this gigantic problem.

Kristýna Jankůjová, from the CEITEC research centre in Brno, is currently addressing the question of how to “reprogram” seaweed to decompose plastics.