The special group "Biology of bacteria producing natural products" (formerly "Biology of Actinomycetes") deals with topics of natural product biosynthesis such as "Biochemistry and Genetics of Secondary Metabolite Production". Other important focal points are "Genetic instability", "Synthesis of exoenzymes", "Streptomycetes in the soil ecosystem", "Plasmids and transposons in actinomycetes" and "Genome structure".

As the investigation of the biosynthetic performance and differentiation of streptomycetes revealed many parallels to other bacteria, such as Bacillus and Myxobacteria, the original limitation of the specialist group to one order of bacteria was abandoned in order to bring together all VAAM members interested in natural product producers in one specialist group.
This "opening up" of the specialist group has also led to an increasing number of microbiologically oriented organic chemists, biochemists and pharmacists joining the specialist group alongside colleagues from microbiology.

Traditionally, the special group's field of interest covers both basic and applied research. Members come from academia and industry, where actinomycetes are particularly important as natural product formers and antibiotic producers.
The specialist group organizes an annual three-day workshop at which young employees in particular are given the opportunity to present their latest results. Members of other special groups are also always welcome to attend the workshops.