Peptide antibiotics, beta-lactams, and related compounds.

In the field of natural peptides, beta-lactams, and related compounds, recent exciting developments are discussed. The increasing interest in this class of bioactive amino-acid derived structures has been attributed to the use of new directed screens (enzyme inhibition assays, beta-lactam detection, immunomodulator studies), new and improved applications (antibiotic, transplantation, and cancer chemotherapy), and advances in functional studies (DNA binding peptides, nucleotide complexones, cell wall and protein processing inhibitors). Peptides offer unique access to modifications and analog production by in vivo (directed biosynthesis) and in vitro procedures (enzymatic synthesis) due to their general linear precursors permitting point replacements. Of special interest are recent developments in the genetics of these compounds (cyclic peptides and beta-lactams), which will find applications in production methods in the near future.