A research team at the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research (BDR) in Japan has succeeded in experimentally evolving the common bacteria Escherichia coli under pressure from a large number of individual antibiotics. In doing so, they were able to identify the mechanisms and constraints underlying evolved drug resistance. Their findings, published in the scientific journal Nature Communications, can be used to help develop drug-treatment strategies that minimize the chance that bacteria will develop resistance.