Breathe and bloom: Gut hypoxia limits C. albicans growth.

Multiple host and microbial factors dictate whether Candida albicans can colonize the mammalian gastrointestinal tract. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Savage et al. demonstrate that restoration of intestinal epithelial hypoxia is sufficient to restore Candida albicans colonization resistance, even when other Candida inhibitory effectors remain depleted.

Venetoclax induces BCL-2-dependent Treg to TH17 plasticity to enhance the antitumor efficacy of anti-PD-1 checkpoint blockade.

The specific BCL-2 small molecule inhibitor venetoclax induces apoptosis in a wide range of malignancies, which has led to rapid clinical expansion in its use alone and in combination with chemotherapy and immune-based therapies against a myriad of cancer types. While lymphocytes, and T cells in particular, rely heavily on BCL-2 for survival and function, the effects of small molecule blockade of the BCL-2 family on surviving immune cells is not fully understood. We aimed to better understand the effect of systemic treatment with venetoclax on regulatory T (Treg) cells, which are relatively resistant to cell death induced by specific drugging of BCL-2 compared to other T cells. We found that BCL-2 blockade altered Treg transcriptional profiles and mediateed Treg plasticity towards a TH17-like Treg phenotype, resulting in increased IL-17A production in lymphoid organs and within the tumor microenvironment. Aligned with previously described augmented antitumor effects observed when combining venetoclax with anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibition, we also demonstrated that Treg-specific genetic BCL-2 knockout combined with anti-PD-1 induced tumor regression and conferred overlapping genetic changes with venetoclax-treated Tregs. As long-term combination therapies using venetoclax gain more traction in the clinic, an improved understanding of the immune-modulatory effects caused by venetoclax may allow expansion of its use against malignancies and immune-related diseases.

The CD8+ T cell tolerance checkpoint triggers a distinct differentiation state defined by protein translation defects.

Peripheral CD8+ T cell tolerance is a checkpoint in both autoimmune disease and anti-cancer immunity. Despite its importance, the relationship between tolerance-induced states and other CD8+ T cell differentiation states remains unclear. Using flow cytometric phenotyping, single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), and chromatin accessibility profiling, we demonstrated that in vivo peripheral tolerance to a self-antigen triggered a fundamentally distinct differentiation state separate from exhaustion, memory, and functional effector cells but analogous to cells defectively primed against tumors. Tolerant cells diverged early and progressively from effector cells, adopting a transcriptionally and epigenetically distinct state within 60 h of antigen encounter. Breaching tolerance required the synergistic actions of strong T cell receptor (TCR) signaling and inflammation, which cooperatively induced gene modules that enhanced protein translation. Weak TCR signaling during bystander infection failed to breach tolerance due to the uncoupling of effector gene expression from protein translation. Thus, tolerance engages a distinct differentiation trajectory enforced by protein translation defects.

PU.1 and BCL11B sequentially cooperate with RUNX1 to anchor mSWI/SNF to poise the T cell effector landscape.

Adaptive immunity relies on specialized effector functions elicited by lymphocytes, yet how antigen recognition activates appropriate effector responses through nonspecific signaling intermediates is unclear. Here we examined the role of chromatin priming in specifying the functional outputs of effector T cells and found that most of the cis-regulatory landscape active in effector T cells was poised early in development before the expression of the T cell antigen receptor. We identified two principal mechanisms underpinning this poised landscape: the recruitment of the nucleosome remodeler mammalian SWItch/Sucrose Non-Fermentable (mSWI/SNF) by the transcription factors RUNX1 and PU.1 to establish chromatin accessibility at T effector loci; and a 'relay' whereby the transcription factor BCL11B succeeded PU.1 to maintain occupancy of the chromatin remodeling complex mSWI/SNF together with RUNX1, after PU.1 silencing during lineage commitment. These mechanisms define modes by which T cells acquire the potential to elicit specialized effector functions early in their ontogeny and underscore the importance of integrating extrinsic cues to the developmentally specified intrinsic program.

Susceptible bacteria can survive antibiotic treatment in the mammalian gastrointestinal tract without evolving resistance.

Antibiotic resistance and evasion are incompletely understood and complicated by the fact that murine interval dosing models do not fully recapitulate antibiotic pharmacokinetics in humans. To better understand how gastrointestinal bacteria respond to antibiotics, we colonized germ-free mice with a pan-susceptible genetically barcoded Escherichia coli clinical isolate and administered the antibiotic cefepime via programmable subcutaneous pumps, allowing closer emulation of human parenteral antibiotic dynamics. E. coli was only recovered from intestinal tissue, where cefepime concentrations were still inhibitory. Strikingly, "some" E. coli isolates were not cefepime resistant but acquired mutations in genes involved in polysaccharide capsular synthesis increasing their invasion and survival within human intestinal cells. Deleting wbaP involved in capsular polysaccharide synthesis mimicked this phenotype, allowing increased invasion of colonocytes where cefepime concentrations were reduced. Additionally, "some" mutant strains exhibited a persister phenotype upon further cefepime exposure. This work uncovers a mechanism allowing "select" gastrointestinal bacteria to evade antibiotic treatment.

Precision modulation of dysbiotic adult microbiomes with a human-milk-derived synbiotic reshapes gut microbial composition and metabolites.

Manipulation of the gut microbiome using live biotherapeutic products shows promise for clinical applications but remains challenging to achieve. Here, we induced dysbiosis in 56 healthy volunteers using antibiotics to test a synbiotic comprising the infant gut microbe, Bifidobacterium longum subspecies infantis (B. infantis), and human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs). B. infantis engrafted in 76% of subjects in an HMO-dependent manner, reaching a relative abundance of up to 81%. Changes in microbiome composition and gut metabolites reflect altered recovery of engrafted subjects compared with controls. Engraftment associates with increases in lactate-consuming Veillonella, faster acetate recovery, and changes in indolelactate and p-cresol sulfate, metabolites that impact host inflammatory status. Furthermore, Veillonella co-cultured in vitro and in vivo with B. infantis and HMO converts lactate produced by B. infantis to propionate, an important mediator of host physiology. These results suggest that the synbiotic reproducibly and predictably modulates recovery of a dysbiotic microbiome.

IsoAnalytics: a single-cell proteomics web server.

Motivation: Single-cell proteomics provide unprecedented resolution to examine biological processes. Customized data analysis and facile data visualization are crucial for scientific discovery. Further, user-friendly data analysis and visualization software that is easily accessible for the general scientific community is essential. Results: We have created a web server, IsoAnalytics, that gives users without computational or bioinformatics background the ability to directly analyze and interactively visualize data obtained from the Isoplexis single cell technology platform. We envision this open-sourced web server will increase research productivity and serve as a free, competitive alternative for single-cell proteomics research. Availability and implementation: IsoAnalytics is free and available at: https://cdc.biohpc.swmed.edu/isoplexis/ and is implemented in Python, with all major browsers supported. Code for IsoAnalytics is free and available at: https://github.com/zhanxw/Isoplexis_Data_Analysis. Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics Advances online.

Multiomic Single Cell Sequencing Identifies Stemlike Nature of Mixed Phenotype Acute Leukemia and Provides Novel Risk Stratification.

Mixed phenotype acute leukemia (MPAL) is a leukemia whose biologic drivers are poorly understood, therapeutic strategy remains unclear, and prognosis is poor. We performed multiomic single cell (SC) profiling of 14 newly diagnosed adult MPAL patients to characterize the immunophenotypic, genetic, and transcriptional landscapes of MPAL. We show that neither genetic profile nor transcriptome reliably correlate with specific MPAL immunophenotypes. However, progressive acquisition of mutations is associated with increased expression of immunophenotypic markers of immaturity. Using SC transcriptional profiling, we find that MPAL blasts express a stem cell-like transcriptional profile distinct from other acute leukemias and indicative of high differentiation potential. Further, patients with the highest differentiation potential demonstrated inferior survival in our dataset. A gene set score, MPAL95, derived from genes highly enriched in this cohort, is applicable to bulk RNA sequencing data and was predictive of survival in an independent patient cohort, suggesting utility for clinical risk stratification.

Immune checkpoint blockade induces gut microbiota translocation that augments extraintestinal antitumor immunity.

Gut microbiota, specifically gut bacteria, are critical for effective immune checkpoint blockade therapy (ICT) for cancer. The mechanisms by which gut microbiota augment extraintestinal anticancer immune responses, however, are largely unknown. Here, we find that ICT induces the translocation of specific endogenous gut bacteria into secondary lymphoid organs and subcutaneous melanoma tumors. Mechanistically, ICT induces lymph node remodeling and dendritic cell (DC) activation, which facilitates the translocation of a selective subset of gut bacteria to extraintestinal tissues to promote optimal antitumor T cell responses in both the tumor-draining lymph nodes (TDLNs) and the primary tumor. Antibiotic treatment results in decreased gut microbiota translocation into mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs) and TDLNs, diminished DC and effector CD8+ T cell responses, and attenuated responses to ICT. Our findings illuminate a key mechanism by which gut microbiota promote extraintestinal anticancer immunity.

Susceptible bacteria survive antibiotic treatment in the mammalian gastrointestinal tract without evolving resistance.

In vitro systems have provided great insight into the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance. Yet, in vitro approaches cannot reflect the full complexity of what transpires within a host. As the mammalian gut is host to trillions of resident bacteria and thus a potential breeding ground for antibiotic resistance, we sought to better understand how gut bacteria respond to antibiotic treatment in vivo . Here, we colonized germ-free mice with a genetically barcoded antibiotic pan-susceptible Escherichia coli clinical isolate and then administered the antibiotic cefepime via programmable subcutaneous pumps which allowed for closer emulation of human parenteral antibiotic pharmacokinetics/dynamics. After seven days of antibiotics, we were unable to culture E. coli from feces. We were, however, able to recover barcoded E. coli from harvested gastrointestinal (GI) tissue, despite high GI tract and plasma cefepime concentrations. Strikingly, these E. coli isolates were not resistant to cefepime but had acquired mutations â€" most notably in the wbaP gene, which encodes an enzyme required for the initiation of the synthesis of the polysaccharide capsule and lipopolysaccharide O antigen - that increased their ability to invade and survive within intestinal cells, including cultured human colonocytes. Further, these E. coli mutants exhibited a persister phenotype when exposed to cefepime, allowing for greater survival to pulses of cefepime treatment when compared to the wildtype strain. Our findings highlight a mechanism by which bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract can adapt to antibiotic treatment by increasing their ability to persist during antibiotic treatment and invade intestinal epithelial cells where antibiotic concentrations are substantially reduced.

IsoAnalytics: A Single-cell Proteomics Web Server.

Motivation: Single-cell proteomics provide unprecedented resolution to examine biological processes. Customized data analysis and facile data visualization are crucial for scientific discovery. Further, userfriendly data analysis and visualization software that is easily accessible for the general scientific community is essential. Results: We have created a web server, IsoAnalytics , that gives users without computational or bioinformatics background the ability to directly analyze and interactively visualize data obtained from the Isoplexis single cell technology platform. We envision this open-sourced web server will increase research productivity and serve as a free, competitive alternative for single-cell proteomics research. Contact: Andrew.Koh@utsouthwestern.edu and Xiaowei.Zhan@utsouthwestern.edu. Availability: IsoAnalytics is free and available at: https://cdc.biohpc.swmed.edu/isoplexis/ and is implemented in Python, with all major browsers supported. Code for IsoAnalytics is free and available at: https://github.com/zhanxw/Isoplexis_Data_Analysis . Supplementary Information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Tachygastria in Preterm Infants: A Longitudinal Cohort Study.

OBJECTIVES: Tachygastria is a gastric dysrhythmia (>4 to ≤9 cycles per minute, cpm) associated with gastric hypomotility and gastrointestinal disorders. Healthy preterm infants spend more time in tachygastria than adults; however, normative values are not defined. We sought to determine the percent of time preterm infants spend in tachygastria. METHODS: We conducted a longitudinal, prospective cohort study with weekly electrogastrography (EGG) recordings in 51 preterm <34 weeks' gestation and 5 term (reference) infants. We calculated percentage recording time in tachygastria (% tachygastria) and determined the mean ± standard deviation (SD) across EGG sessions. Mixed effects model was performed to test weekly variance in % tachygastria and gestational age effect. Successive pre- and post-prandial measurements were obtained to assess reproducibility of % tachygastria. We compared time to achieve full feeds between subjects with % tachygastria within 1 SD from the mean versus % tachygastria >1 SD from mean. RESULTS: Three hundred seventy-six EGG sessions were completed (N = 56). Mean % tachygastria was 40% with SD ±5%. We demonstrated no change in % tachygastria across 9 postnatal weeks (P = 0.70) and no gestational age effect. No difference was demonstrated between successive pre- (P = 0.91) and post-prandial (P = 0.96) % tachygastria. Infants with 35%-45% tachygastria (within 1 SD from mean) had higher gestational age and less time to achieve full feeds than infants with <35% or >45% tachygastria. CONCLUSIONS: EGG is a reproducible tool to assess % tachygastria in preterm infants. Clinical significance of increased or decreased % tachygastria needs further investigation to validate if 35%-45% tachygastria is safe for feeding.

MB-SupCon: Microbiome-based Predictive Models via Supervised Contrastive Learning.

Human microbiome consists of trillions of microorganisms. Microbiota can modulate the host physiology through molecule and metabolite interactions. Integrating microbiome and metabolomics data have the potential to predict different diseases more accurately. Yet, most datasets only measure microbiome data but without paired metabolome data. Here, we propose a novel integrative modeling framework, Microbiome-based Supervised Contrastive Learning Framework (MB-SupCon). MB-SupCon integrates microbiome and metabolome data to generate microbiome embeddings, which can be used to improve the prediction accuracy in datasets that only measure microbiome data. As a proof of concept, we applied MB-SupCon on 720 samples with paired 16S microbiome data and metabolomics data from patients with type 2 diabetes. MB-SupCon outperformed existing prediction methods and achieved high average prediction accuracies for insulin resistance status (84.62%), sex (78.98%), and race (80.04%). Moreover, the microbiome embeddings form separable clusters for different covariate groups in the lower-dimensional space, which enhances data visualization. We also applied MB-SupCon on a large inflammatory bowel disease study and observed similar advantages. Thus, MB-SupCon could be broadly applicable to improve microbiome prediction models in multi-omics disease studies.

Dosing a synbiotic of human milk oligosaccharides and B. infantis leads to reversible engraftment in healthy adult microbiomes without antibiotics.

Predictable and sustainable engraftment of live biotherapeutic products into the human gut microbiome is being explored as a promising way to modulate the human gut microbiome. We utilize a synbiotic approach pairing the infant gut microbe Bifidobacterium longum subspecies infantis (B. infantis) and human milk oligosaccharides (HMO). B. infantis, which is typically absent in adults, engrafts into healthy adult microbiomes in an HMO-dependent manner at a relative abundance of up to 25% of the bacterial population without antibiotic pretreatment or adverse effects. Corresponding changes in metabolites are detected. Germ-free mice transplanted with dysbiotic human microbiomes also successfully engraft with B. infantis in an HMO-dependent manner, and the synbiotic augments butyrate levels both in this in vivo model and in in vitro cocultures of the synbiotic with specific Firmicutes species. Finally, the synbiotic inhibits the growth of enteropathogens in vitro. Our findings point to a potential safe mechanism for ameliorating dysbioses characteristic of numerous human diseases.

Association between Antibiotic Exposure and Systemic Immune Parameters in Cancer Patients Receiving Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy.

Antibiotic administration is associated with worse clinical outcomes and changes to the gut microbiome in cancer patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). However, the effects of antibiotics on systemic immune function are unknown. We, therefore, evaluated antibiotic exposure, therapeutic responses, and multiplex panels of 40 serum cytokines and 124 antibodies at baseline and six weeks after ICI initiation, with p < 0.05 and false discovery rate (FDR) < 0.2 considered significant. A total of 251 patients were included, of whom the 135 (54%) who received antibiotics had lower response rates and shorter survival. Patients who received antibiotics prior to ICI initiation had modestly but significantly lower baseline levels of nucleolin, MDA5, c-reactive protein, and liver cytosol antigen type 1 (LC1) antibodies, as well as higher levels of heparin sulfate and Matrigel antibodies. After ICI initiation, antibiotic-treated patients had significantly lower levels of MDA5, CENP.B, and nucleolin antibodies. Although there were no clear differences in cytokines in the overall cohort, in the lung cancer subset (53% of the study population), we observed differences in IFN-γ, IL-8, and macrophage inflammatory proteins. In ICI-treated patients, antibiotic exposure is associated with changes in certain antibodies and cytokines. Understanding the relationship between these factors may improve the clinical management of patients receiving ICI.

Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy Enabled Total Body Irradiation (VMAT-TBI): Six-year Clinical Experience and Treatment Outcomes.

Total body irradiation is an important part of the conditioning regimens frequently used to prepare patients for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (SCT). Volumetric-modulated arc therapy enabled total body irradiation (VMAT-TBI), an alternative to conventional TBI (cTBI), is a novel radiotherapy treatment technique that has been implemented and investigated in our institution. The purpose of this study is to (1) report our six-year clinical experience in terms of treatment planning strategy and delivery time and (2) evaluate the clinical outcomes and toxicities in our cohort of patients treated with VMAT-TBI. This is a retrospective single center study. Forty-four patients at our institution received VMAT-TBI and chemotherapy conditioning followed by allogeneic SCT between 2014 and 2020. Thirty-two patients (73%) received standard-dose TBI (12-13.2 Gy in 6-8 fractions twice daily), whereas 12 (27%) received low-dose TBI (2-4 Gy in one fraction). Treatment planning, delivery, and treatment outcome data including overall survival (OS), relapse-free survival (RFS), and toxicities were analyzed. The developed VMAT-TBI planning strategy consistently generated plans satisfying our dose constraints, with planning target volume coverage >90%, mean lung dose ∼50% to 75% of prescription dose, and minimal hotspots in critical organs. Most of the treatment deliveries were <100 minutes (range 33-147, mean 72). The median follow-up was 26 months. At the last follow-up, 34 of 44 (77%) of patients were alive, with 1- and 2-year OS of 90% and 79% and RFS of 88% and 71%, respectively. The most common grade 3+ toxicities observed were mucositis (31 patients [71%]) and nephrotoxicity (6 patients [13%]), both of which were deemed multifactorial in cause. Four patients (9%) in standard-dose cohort developed grade 3+ pneumonitis, with 3 cases in the setting of documented respiratory infection and only 1 (2%) deemed likely related to radiation alone. VMAT-TBI provides a safe alternative to cTBI. The dose modulation capability of VMAT-TBI may lead to new treatment strategies, such as simultaneous boost and further critical organ sparing, for better malignant cell eradication, immune suppression, and lower toxicities.

AIRE in context: Leveraging chromatin plasticity to trigger ectopic gene expression.

The emergence of antigen receptor diversity in clonotypic lymphocytes drove the evolution of a novel gene, Aire, that enabled the adaptive immune system to discriminate foreign invaders from self-constituents. AIRE functions in the epithelial cells of the thymus to express genes highly restricted to alternative cell lineages. This somatic plasticity facilitates the selection of a balanced repertoire of T cells that protects the host from harmful self-reactive clones, yet maintains a wide range of affinities for virtually any foreign antigen. Here, we review the latest understanding of AIRE's molecular actions with a focus on its interplay with chromatin. We argue that AIRE is a multi-valent chromatin effector that acts late in the transcription cycle to modulate the activity of previously poised non-coding regulatory elements of tissue-specific genes. We postulate a role for chromatin instability-caused in part by ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling-that variably sets the scope of the accessible landscape on which AIRE can act. We highlight AIRE's intrinsic repressive function and its relevance in providing feedback control. We synthesize these recent advances into a putative model for the mechanistic modes by which AIRE triggers ectopic transcription for immune repertoire selection.

Candida albicans Isolates 529L and CHN1 Exhibit Stable Colonization of the Murine Gastrointestinal Tract.

Candida albicans is a pathobiont that colonizes multiple niches in the body including the gastrointestinal (GI) tract but is also responsible for both mucosal and systemic infections. Despite its prevalence as a human commensal, the murine GI tract is generally refractory to colonization with the C. albicans reference isolate SC5314. Here, we identify two C. albicans isolates, 529L and CHN1, that stably colonize the murine GI tract in three different animal facilities under conditions where SC5314 is lost from this niche. Analysis of the bacterial microbiota did not show notable differences among mice colonized with the three C. albicans strains. We compared the genotypes and phenotypes of these three strains and identified thousands of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and multiple phenotypic differences, including their ability to grow and filament in response to nutritional cues. Despite striking filamentation differences under laboratory conditions, however, analysis of cell morphology in the GI tract revealed that the three isolates exhibited similar filamentation properties in this in vivo niche. Notably, we found that SC5314 is more sensitive to the antimicrobial peptide CRAMP, and the use of CRAMP-deficient mice modestly increased the ability of SC5314 to colonize the GI tract relative to CHN1 and 529L. These studies provide new insights into how strain-specific differences impact C. albicans traits in the host and advance CHN1 and 529L as relevant strains to study C. albicans pathobiology in its natural host niche. IMPORTANCE Understanding how fungi colonize the GI tract is increasingly recognized as highly relevant to human health. The animal models used to study Candida albicans commensalism commonly rely on altering the host microbiome (via antibiotic treatment or defined diets) to establish successful GI colonization by the C. albicans reference isolate SC5314. Here, we characterize two C. albicans isolates that can colonize the murine GI tract without antibiotic treatment and can therefore be used as tools for studying fungal commensalism. Importantly, experiments were replicated in three different animal facilities and utilized three different mouse strains. Differential colonization between fungal isolates was not associated with alterations in the bacterial microbiome but rather with distinct responses to CRAMP, a host antimicrobial peptide. This work emphasizes the importance of C. albicans intraspecies variation as well as host antimicrobial defense mechanisms in defining the outcome of commensal interactions.

The Antibiotic Efflux Protein TolC Is a Highly Evolvable Target under Colicin E1 or TLS Phage Selection.

Bacteriophages and bacterial toxins are promising antibacterial agents to treat infections caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria. In fact, bacteriophages have recently been successfully used to treat life-threatening infections caused by MDR bacteria (Schooley RT, Biswas B, Gill JJ, Hernandez-Morales A, Lancaster J, Lessor L, Barr JJ, Reed SL, Rohwer F, Benler S, et al. 2017. Development and use of personalized bacteriophage-based therapeutic cocktails to treat a patient with a disseminated resistant Acinetobacter baumannii infection. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 61(10); Chan BK, Turner PE, Kim S, Mojibian HR, Elefteriades JA, Narayan D. 2018. Phage treatment of an aortic graft infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Evol Med Public Health. 2018(1):60-66; Petrovic Fabijan A, Lin RCY, Ho J, Maddocks S, Ben Zakour NL, Iredell JR, Westmead Bacteriophage Therapy Team. 2020. Safety of bacteriophage therapy in severe Staphylococcus aureus infection. Nat Microbiol. 5(3):465-472). One potential problem with using these antibacterial agents is the evolution of resistance against them in the long term. Here, we studied the fitness landscape of the Escherichia coli TolC protein, an outer membrane efflux protein that is exploited by a pore forming toxin called colicin E1 and by TLS phage (Pagie L, Hogeweg P. 1999. Colicin diversity: a result of eco-evolutionary dynamics. J Theor Biol. 196(2):251-261; Andersen C, Hughes C, Koronakis V. 2000. Chunnel vision. Export and efflux through bacterial channel-tunnels. EMBO Rep. 1(4):313-318; Koronakis V, Andersen C, Hughes C. 2001. Channel-tunnels. Curr Opin Struct Biol. 11(4):403-407; Czaran TL, Hoekstra RF, Pagie L. 2002. Chemical warfare between microbes promotes biodiversity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 99(2):786-790; Cascales E, Buchanan SK, Duché D, Kleanthous C, Lloubès R, Postle K, Riley M, Slatin S, Cavard D. 2007. Colicin biology. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev. 71(1):158-229). By systematically assessing the distribution of fitness effects of ∼9,000 single amino acid replacements in TolC using either positive (antibiotics and bile salts) or negative (colicin E1 and TLS phage) selection pressures, we quantified evolvability of the TolC. We demonstrated that the TolC is highly optimized for the efflux of antibiotics and bile salts. In contrast, under colicin E1 and TLS phage selection, TolC sequence is very sensitive to mutations. Finally, we have identified a large set of mutations in TolC that increase resistance of E. coli against colicin E1 or TLS phage without changing antibiotic susceptibility of bacterial cells. Our findings suggest that TolC is a highly evolvable target under negative selection which may limit the potential clinical use of bacteriophages and bacterial toxins if evolutionary aspects are not taken into account.