WASHINGTON: A marine bacterium has been genetically modified by researchers to break down plastic in saline water. The synthetic creature is capable of degrading polyethene terephthalate (PET), a plastic used in everything from water bottles to clothing that contributes considerably to microplastic pollution in the oceans."This is exciting because we need to address plastic pollution in marine environments," said Nathan Crook, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at North Carolina State University and the paper's corresponding author."One option is to pull the plastic out of the...