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Joan Stephenson, PhD

JAMA. 1998;280:594.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Scientists have sequenced the complete genome for the syphilis bacterium, Treponema pallidum, an achievement that experts say will pave the way for the development of preventive vaccines and better diagnostic tests (Science. 1998;281:375-387).

The project, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), was a collaborative effort by researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, and the Institute for Genomic Research, Rockville, Md.

Syphilis research has been severely handicapped over the years by scientists' inability to grow T pallidum in the laboratory. The genetic map is expected to provide critical information that researchers can apply to developing methods to culture the bacterium.

For example, the discovery that certain genes are absent in the bacterium's metabolic pathways indicates that T pallidum extracts many nutrients from its human host. Because of this, conventional culture media used to grow many types . . . [Full Text of this Article]