In the last 10 years a proliferation of information concerning the lantibiotics and related peptide antibiotics has come to the fore. This is the first book to summarize this information comprehensively and concisely. Unlike other reviews, which consider the lantibiotics in isolation, this book brings together for the first time the concepts and interrelationships between lantibiotics and other antibiotics, bacteriocins and antimicrobial peptides. This conceptualization should stimulate new ideas, discussion and research in many areas of antibiotic research.