The present invention relates to the field of antibiotics, and more specifically to the isolation of nucleic acid molecules that code for the biosynthetic pathway of the glycopeptide antibiotic teicoplanin. Disclosed are the functions of the gene products involved in teicoplanin production. The present invention provides novel biosynthetic genes that code for teicoplanin production, the encoded polypeptides, the recombinant vectors comprising the nucleic acid sequences that encode said polypeptides, the host cells transformed,with said vectors and methods for producing glycopeptide antibiotics using said transformed host cells, including methods for producing teicoplanin, a precursor thereof, a derivative thereof or a modified glycopeptide different from teicoplanin or a precursor thereof.