Aminoglycoside antibiotics biosynthetic pathway

A variety of bacterial genera have been shown to produce aminoglycoside-aminocyclitol antibiotics. These include Streptomyces, Micromonospora, Bacillus, and so on. Only those compounds emanating from Streptomyces are named -mycins (e.g., tobramycin) while others are -micins (gentamicin), -osins, -asins, or -acins. The biosynthetic pathways for the aminoglycosides and the control of their expression are not well-studied. Streptomycin is the exception. 

Many and varied syntheses of aminoglycoside and nucleoside antibiotics and their analogues are reported in Chapters 20 and 21. Careful labelling studies over the past year or so, particularly by Rinehart s group, have provided information on the biosynthetic pathways that convert o-glucose into the amino-cyclitol moieties of streptomycin and spectinomycin (Chapter 20). 

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