Vancosamine synthesis is encoded by the vancomycin (vps) biosynthetic cluster.

Epivancosamine, a closely related aminosugar, is encoded by the chloroeremomycin (cep) biosynthetic cluster.

EvaC then methylates molecule 3 at the 3-C to form molecule 4 by deprotonating to form an enolate intermediate, which then attacks a SAM methyl group in the active site of EvaC.

Finally, EvaE can form either epi/vancosamine by reduction using either NADH or NADPH to reduce the carbonyl at 4-C.

Additional modifications are possible at the 3-C amino group to create N-alkyl or N-acyl derivatives of this sugar.