Genetic-engineered bacteria break down industrial contaminants

Toxic chemicals left behind by humans today pose severe risks to Earth's creatures, yet they remain undetected. Current efforts to clean up are inadequate due to the inability of existing methods to support microbial evolution for detoxification. However, advancements have revealed that bacteria like Vibrio natriegens can effectively break down industrial and plastic waste, each species tailored for specific toxins in unique environments. Thanks to recent engineering, a single bacterial strain now incorporates genes from various toxin-breaking species, enabling it to efficiently decontaminate complex mixtures.