Gfa, a new integron-borne fosfomycin resistance protein family

Abstract

Fosfomycin is increasingly used to treat multidrug-resistant Gram-negative infections, yet resistance surveillance largely relies on homology-based detection of known fos genes. Here, we identify Gfa, a previously unrecognized integron-borne fosfomycin resistance determinant uncovered through functional screening of 129 integron gene cassettes. Gfa confers high-level fosfomycin resistance across Enterobacterales and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and is resistant to phosphonoformate inhibition. Structural modelling and mutagenesis reveal a conserved cysteine-rich, zinc-organized architecture essential for activity and distinct from canonical Fos enzymes. Crude-extract assays confirm glutathione-dependent fosfomycin inactivation under metal-chelating conditions. Distant Gfa homologs also conferred resistance, although activity was restricted to a subset of proteins tested. Together, these findings establish Gfa as a previously unrecognized fosfomycin resistance family and highlight the limitations of homology-based mining for discovering novel resistance determinants and predicting which family members are functional.