The tirandamycins (TAMs) are a small group of Streptomyces-derived natural products that target bacterial RNA polymerase. Within the TAM biosynthetic cluster, trdE encodes a glycoside hydrolase whose role in TAM biosynthesis has been undefined until now. We report that in vivo trdE inactivation leads to accumulation of pre-tirandamycin, the earliest intermediate released from its mixed polyketide/nonribosomal peptide biosynthetic assembly line. In vitro and site-directed mutagenesis studies showed that TrdE, a putative glycoside hydrolase, catalyzes in a highly atypical fashion the installation of the Delta(11,12) double bond during TAM biosynthesis.