China is the largest producer of lincomycin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic. The group around Wen LIU found that two bacterial thiols, MSH (mycothiol) and EGT(ergothioneine), couple during the biosynthesis of lincomycin A. EGT acts as a carrier to template the molecular assembly, and MSH is the sulfur donor for lincomycin maturation after thiol exchange

Qunfei ZHAO et al., Nature (2015) doi:10.1038/nature14137