Vancomycin assembly: nature's way

Abstract

Antibiotics are precious resources in the fight to combat bacterial infections caused by pathogenic organisms. Vancomycin is one of the antibiotics of last resort in the treatment of life-threatening infections by gram-positive bacteria. The rules by which nature assembles the glycopeptide (vancomycin) and lipoglycopeptide (teicoplanin) antibiotics are becoming elucidated and verified: first amino acids are synthesized, then joined together and cross-linked. This knowledge opens up approaches for reprogramming strategies at the level of altered monomers, swapped assembly lines, and different post-assembly tailoring enzymes.