The biosynthesis of glycopeptide antibiotics--a model for complex, non-ribosomally synthesized, peptidic secondary metabolites.

Glycopeptide antibiotics are a class of widely known natural compounds produced by Actinomycetes. Vancomycin, the first member of the glycopeptide family to be discovered, was described in 1955 and used as an antibiotic soon thereafter. During the past 50 years numerous contributions on the structure, mode of action, and therapeutic features of vancomycin have been published. Recently, there has been considerable progress in elucidating the biosynthesis of glycopeptide antibiotics by combining molecular biology and analytical chemistry methods. Here, we provide an overview of the current knowledge regarding biosynthetic glycopeptide assembly.