Plastic-eating fungi could help take a bite out of Earth’s rampant pollution crisis, study suggests

Within the forest, sure fungi connect to bushes and fallen logs to interrupt down and digest the carbon inside their wooden earlier than releasing it as carbon dioxide. However when their most popular meal is not out there, these wood-decaying fungi can chow down on plastic as a substitute, in response to a brand new research printed July 26 within the journal PLOS One. 

White-rot fungi can break down lignin — a particularly robust natural polymer that helps give wooden its rigidity — through the use of enzymes, that are proteins that speed up the chemical reactions that happen inside cells.