Bacteria armed with the M5 motif on their PETase enzyme can feast on plastic, a trait now seen thriving across the world’s oceans. Credit: © 2025 KAUST Far beneath the ocean's surface, researchers have found bacteria that can digest plastic, using specialized enzymes that evolved alongside humanity's synthetic debris. A large-scale global study by scientists at KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology) revealed that these marine microbes are widespread and genetically prepared