A brief tour of myxobacterial secondary metabolism

Myxobacteria are soil-dwelling, Gram-negative bacteria which are notable not only for their multi-cellular 'social' lifestyles, but for production of structurally diverse secondary metabolites with potential in clinical therapy. Here we briefly review the history of myxobacterial natural products research, provide an overview of their unique secondary metabolism, with an emphasis on assembly line biosynthesis of polyketide and non-ribosomal peptide metabolites, and look to the future of the field. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.