Table Of ContentMicrobial Evolution and Co-Adaptation: A Tribute to the Life and Scientific Legacies of Joshua Lederberg
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12586.html
Rapporteurs: David A. Relman, Margaret A. Hamburg,
Eileen R. Choffnes, and Alison Mack
Forum on Microbial Threats
Board on Global Health
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Microbial Evolution and Co-Adaptation: A Tribute to the Life and Scientific Legacies of Joshua Lederberg
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12586.html
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Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
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for Microbiology; Sanofi Pasteur; Burroughs Wellcome Fund; Pfizer; GlaxoSmithKline;
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The serpent has been a symbol of long life, healing, and knowledge among almost all
cultures and religions since the beginning of recorded history. The serpent adopted as a
logotype by the Institute of Medicine is a relief carving from ancient Greece, now held by
the Staatliche Museen in Berlin.
COVER: E. coli is a gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, rod prokaryote. The strains are
undergoing conjugation via a pilus (one strain has fimbriae) under ×3,645 magnification.
Bacterial conjugation is the ability to transfer DNA between strains of bacteria (via a pilus).
It allows a new mutation to spread through an existing population. It is believed that this
process led to the spread of toxin synthesis from Shigella to E. coli (O157:H7). E. coli can
cause urinary tract infections, traveler’s diarrhea, nosocomial infections, meningitis, peri-
tonitis, mastitis, septicemia, and gram-negative pneumonia. It causes a variety of skin and
wound infections such as scalded skin syndrome, scarlet fever, erysipelas, and impetigo.
SOURCE: Cover art was provided by Dennis Kunkel Microscopy, Inc. The photo of
Joshua Lederberg on the spine is courtesy of The Rockefeller University.
Suggested citation: IOM (Institute of Medicine). 2009. Microbial evolution and co-
adaptation: a tribute to the life and scientific legacies of Joshua Lederberg. Washington,
DC: The National Academies Press.
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Microbial Evolution and Co-Adaptation: A Tribute to the Life and Scientific Legacies of Joshua Lederberg
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12586.html
“Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
Willing is not enough; we must do.”
—Goethe
Advising the Nation. Improving Health.
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Microbial Evolution and Co-Adaptation: A Tribute to the Life and Scientific Legacies of Joshua Lederberg
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12586.html
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Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Microbial Evolution and Co-Adaptation: A Tribute to the Life and Scientific Legacies of Joshua Lederberg
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12586.html
FORUM ON MICROBIAL THREATS
DAVID A. RELMAN (Chair), Stanford University, Palo Alto, California
MARGARET A. HAMBURG (Vice Chair), Nuclear Threat Initiative/Global
Health & Security Initiative, Washington, DC
DAVID W. K. ACHESON, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food
and Drug Administration, Rockville, Maryland
RUTH L. BERKELMAN, Emory University, Center for Public Health
Preparedness and Research, Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, Georgia
ENRIQUETA C. BOND, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Research Triangle Park,
North Carolina
ROGER G. BREEZE, Centaur Science Group, Washington, DC
STEVEN J. BRICKNER, Pfizer Global Research and Development, Pfizer Inc.,
Groton, Connecticut
GAIL H. CASSELL, Eli Lilly & Company, Indianapolis, Indiana
BILL COLSTON, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore,
California
RALPH L. ERICKSON, Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and
Response System, Department of Defense, Silver Spring, Maryland
MARK B. FEINBERG, Merck Vaccine Division, Merck & Co., West Point,
Pennsylvania
J. PATRICK FITCH, National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures
Center, Frederick, Maryland
DARRELL R. GALLOWAY, Medical S&T Division, Defense Threat
Reduction Agency, Fort Belvoir, Virginia
S. ELIZABETH GEORGE, Biological and Chemical Countermeasures
Program, Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC
JESSE L. GOODMAN, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food
and Drug Administration, Rockville, Maryland
EDUARDO GOTUZZO, Instituto de Medicina Tropical–Alexander von
Humbolt, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru
JO HANDELSMAN, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of
Wisconsin, Madison
CAROLE A. HEILMAN, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases,
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of
Health, Bethesda, Maryland
DAVID L. HEYMANN, Polio Eradication, World Health Organization,
Geneva, Switzerland
PHIL HOSBACH, New Products and Immunization Policy, Sanofi Pasteur,
Swiftwater, Pennsylvania
IOM Forums and Roundtables do not issue, review, or approve individual documents. The responsibil-
ity for the published workshop summary rests with the workshop rapporteur(s) and the institution.
v
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Microbial Evolution and Co-Adaptation: A Tribute to the Life and Scientific Legacies of Joshua Lederberg
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12586.html
JAMES M. HUGHES, Global Infectious Diseases Program, Emory
University, Atlanta, Georgia
STEPHEN A. JOHNSTON, Arizona BioDesign Institute, Arizona State
University, Tempe
GERALD T. KEUSCH, Boston University School of Medicine and Boston
University School of Public Health, Massachusetts
RIMA F. KHABBAZ, National Center for Preparedness, Detection, and Control
of Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta,
Georgia
LONNIE J. KING, Center for Zoonotic, Vectorborne, and Enteric Diseases,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia
GEORGE W. KORCH, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious
Diseases, Fort Detrick, Maryland
STANLEY M. LEMON, School of Medicine, University of Texas Medical
Branch, Galveston
EDWARD McSWEEGAN, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
STEPHEN S. MORSE, Center for Public Health Preparedness, Columbia
University, New York
MICHAEL T. OSTERHOLM, Center for Infectious Disease Research and
Policy, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
GEORGE POSTE, Arizona BioDesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe
JOHN C. POTTAGE, JR., GlaxoSmithKline, Collegeville, Pennsylvania
GARY A. ROSELLE, Central Office, Veterans Health Administration,
Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC
JANET SHOEMAKER, Office of Public Affairs, American Society for
Microbiology, Washington, DC
P. FREDERICK SPARLING, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
BRIAN J. STASKAWICZ, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology,
University of California, Berkeley
TERENCE TAYLOR, International Council for the Life Sciences,
Washington, DC
MURRAY TROSTLE, U.S. Agency for International Development,
Washington, DC
Staff
EILEEN CHOFFNES, Director
KATE SKOCZDOPOLE, Senior Program Associate
SARAH BRONKO, Research Associate
KENISHA PETERS, Senior Program Assistant
ALISON MACK, Science Writer
vi
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Microbial Evolution and Co-Adaptation: A Tribute to the Life and Scientific Legacies of Joshua Lederberg
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12586.html
BOARD ON GLOBAL HEALTH
Margaret Hamburg (Chair), Consultant, Nuclear Threat Initiative,
Washington, DC
George Alleyne, Director Emeritus, Pan American Health Organization,
Washington, DC
Donald Berwick, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Health Care Policy,
Harvard Medical School, and President and Chief Executive Officer,
Institute of Healthcare Improvement, Boston, Massachusetts
Jo Ivey Boufford (IOM Foreign Secretary), President, New York Academy of
Medicine, New York
David R. Challoner, Vice President for Health Affairs, Emeritus, University of
Florida, Gainesville
Ciro de Quadros, Albert B. Sabin Vaccine Institute, Washington, DC
Sue Goldie, Associate Professor of Health Decision Science, Department
of Health Policy and Management, Center for Risk Analysis, Harvard
University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts
Richard Guerrant, Thomas H. Hunter Professor of International Medicine
and Director, Center for Global Health, University of Virginia School of
Medicine, Charlottesville
Gerald T. Keusch, Assistant Provost for Global Health, Boston University
School of Medicine, and Associate Dean for Global Health, Boston
University School of Public Health, Massachusetts
Jeffrey Koplan, Vice President for Academic Health Affairs, Emory
University, Atlanta, Georgia
Sheila Leatherman, Research Professor, University of North Carolina School of
Public Health, Chapel Hill
Michael Merson, Director, Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University,
Durham, North Carolina
Mark L. Rosenberg, Executive Director, Task Force for Child Survival and
Development, Emory University, Decatur, Georgia
Philip Russell, Professor Emeritus, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns
Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
Staff
Patrick Kelley, Director
Allison Brantley, Senior Program Assistant
IOM boards do not review or approve individual reports and are not asked to endorse conclusions
and recommendations. The responsibility for the content of the report rests with the authors and the
institution.
vii
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Microbial Evolution and Co-Adaptation: A Tribute to the Life and Scientific Legacies of Joshua Lederberg
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12586.html
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Microbial Evolution and Co-Adaptation: A Tribute to the Life and Scientific Legacies of Joshua Lederberg
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12586.html
Reviewers
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their
diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures
approved by the National Research Council’s Report Review Committee. The
purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments
that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible
and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evi-
dence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft
manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.
We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
Martin J. Blaser, New York University School of Medicine
Steven J. Brickner, Pfizer Global Research and Development, Pfizer, Inc.
James M. Hughes, Hubert Department of Global Health and Rollins
School of Public Health, Emory University
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive com-
ments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the final draft of the report
before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Dr. Melvin Worth.
Appointed by the Institute of Medicine, he was responsible for making certain
that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with
institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered.
Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring
committee and the institution.
ix
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Microbial Evolution and Co-Adaptation: A Tribute to the Life and Scientific Legacies of Joshua Lederberg
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12586.html
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Description:Dr. Joshua Lederberg - scientist, Nobel laureate, visionary thinker, and friend of the Forum on Microbial Threats - died on February 2, 2008. It was in his honor that the Institute of Medicine's Forum on Microbial Threats convened a public workshop on May 20-21, 2008, to examine Dr. Lederberg's scie