Isolated for millions of years, cave bacteria resist modern antibiotics

The caverns of Lechuguilla Cave are some of the strangest on the planet. Its acid-carved passages extend for over 120 miles. They’re filled with a wonderland of straws, balloons, plates, stalactites of rust, and chandeliers of crystal. Parts of Lechuguilla have been cut off from the surface for four to seven million years, and the life-forms there – mainly bacteria and other microbes – have charted their own evolutionary courses. But Gerry Wright from McMaster University in Canada has found that many of these cave bacteria can resist our antibiotics. They have been living underground for as long as modern humans have existed, but they can fend off our most potent weapons. Drug resistance may be causing problems for us now, but for bacteria, it’s just an ancient solution to an ancient problem. Lechuguilla is not an easy place to explore. Cavers need special permits to plumb its depths, and ...