With the recent advances in molecular engineering over the past 25 years, new approaches in the production of novel antibiotics have emerged. Innovations in cloning and the subsequent analysis of antibiotic gene clusters, the engineering of biosynthetic pathways in "Escherichia coli", the transfer of engineered pathways from "E. coli" into "Streptomyces" expression hosts, and finally the stable maintenance and expression of cloned genes are all processes that have streamlined the process. More comprehensive understanding and knowledge of the mechanisms, as well as the substrate specificities during their assembly by polyketide synthases, nonribosomal peptide synthetases, glycosyltransferases and other enzymes have made molecular engineering design and outcomes more predictable.