Plasmid-borne resistance to fosfomycin in bacteria is due to modification of the antibiotic molecule by a glutathione S-transferase that catalyzes the formation of a covalent bond between the sulfhydryl residue of the cysteine in glutathione and the C-1 of fosfomycin. This reaction results in opening of the epoxide ring of the antibiotic to form an inactive adduct, the structure of which was confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance. Dialyzed extracts prepared from resistant Escherichia coli strains were unable to modify fosfomycin unless exogenous glutathione was added to the reaction mixtures. Similarly, mutants defective in glutathione biosynthesis were susceptible to fosfomycin, despite harboring a resistance plasmid. Extracts of resistant but not susceptible strains could join glutathione to 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene, confirming the nature of the enzymatic activity. Adduct formation appeared to be specific for glutathione: none of the other thiols tested (cysteine, N-acetylcysteine, and dithiothreitol) could modify fosfomycin.

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Hygromycin B, an aminocyclitol antibiotic that strongly inhibits both 70s and 80s ribosomes, is synthesized by Streptomyces hygroscopicus. Ribosomes from this Gram-positive mycelial bacterium are inhibited in vitro by the antibiotic. In contrast, the streptomycete is highly resistant to the drug in vivo since it possesses hygromycin B phosphotransferase activity. This enzyme has been shown by gel filtration to have a molecular weight of 42000, and to modify its antibiotic substrate to produce 7"-O-phosphoryl-hygromycin B which totally lacks biological activity both in vivo and in vitro.

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