Biosynthesis

Abstract

In the first chapter we considered the question of why antibiotics are synthesized. In this chapter we consider the question of how antibiotics are synthesized. These processes include the steps leading from the nutrients that are supplied to the cell to the end products. Besides its general value to our understanding of metabolism and its regulation such knowledge may have practical use. To illustrate this point, a biological precursor of an antibiotic may be easy to synthesize in the laboratory, whereas the finished product may present great difficulties. In such a case it may be possible to utilize the enzymatic machinery of the antibiotic-producing organism to accomplish the conversion of the synthetic precursor to the finished product.