Vancomycin assembly: nature's way

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.