Heather Hendrickson, PhD

Bacterial genomes structure the way that bacteria replicate, divide, evolve and ultimately rule their environments. The DNA itself is not only the centerpiece of these processes but it maintains a historical record of past events. I am interested in piecing together how these processes are intimately connected and showing how the trace of events in the DNA molecule can be utilized to learn about basic biology. .

Projects at the New Zealand Institute for Advanced Study:

In addition to extending my work regarding the relationship between replication, segregation and genome sequences (see below) I am collaborating with Paul Rainey on an on-going "Evolution of Cell Shape" project, which pre-existed in the laboratory. I will also be working with Peter Lind and Andy Farr to plumb the depths of the mutations that are acquired during Pseudomonas fluorescens adaptation to stationary culture conditions.

Summary of Previous Research:

I have worked previously verifying the nature of random mutation, discovering that chromosome structure shapes DNA exchange between bacterial species, establishing how DNA replication shapes chromosome sequences over millions of years and discovering evidence of post-replicative fork reversal in bacteria. I have had the opportunity to learn microbial genetics, molecular biology, cell biology, fluorescence microscopy, phylogenetics, comparative genomics, computer programming and bioinformatics.

Most Recent: Fluorescent Microscopy Corroborates Evolutionary Trace

In order to explore previous bioinformatic observations regarding DNA replication I obtained a Long Term Fellowship from the Human Frontier of Science and joined the laboratory of Dr. David Sherratt at the University of Oxford. This collaboration allowed me to test the hypothesis that replication termination was taking place at the dif site, rather than other previously characterized sites. I was able to demonstrate, using a combination of the superb tools available in the Sherratt lab for fluorescence microscopy as well as comparative bioinformatics, that replication forks are impeded and actually reversed in the terminus region through the action of the DNA segregation machinery and that this process probably occurs in 90% of all bacteria we have sequenced to date. This project establishes the potential to learn tremendous amounts about the basic biology of Bacteria and Archaea through genome sequence analysis and provides a link between the abundant sequence resources available, evolutionary processes and the day-to-day workings of bacterial cells.

Publications from previous work

Hendrickson, H. (2012) The Lion and the Mouse: How Bacteriophages Create, Liberate and Decimate Pathogens.  In P. Hyman & S. Abedon (Eds.) Bacteriophages in Health and Disease (pp - ). Oxford, UK: CABI.

Hendrickson, H. (2009) Order and disorder during E. coli divergence. PLOS genetics2009; 5(1): e1000335

Hendrickson, H. (2008) DNA replication can still spring surprises. Genome Biology. 2008; 9(8):317.

Lawrence, J.G., and Hendrickson, H. (2008) Genomes in motion: gene transfer as a catalyst for genome change. In H. Schmidt & M. Hensel (Eds.), Advances in Molecular and Cellular Microbiology: Horizontal Gene Transfer in the Evolution of Pathogenesis (pp 3-22). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Hendrickson, H., and Lawrence, J.G. (2007) Mutational bias suggests that replication termination occurs near the dif site, not at Ter sites. Mol. Micro Apr; 64(1):42-56.

Hendrickson, H., and Lawrence, J.G. (2006) Selection for chromosome architecture in bacteria. J. Mol. Evol. 62:615-29.

Lawrence, J.G., and Hendrickson, H. (2005) Genome evolution in bacteria: order beneath chaos. Curr. Opin. Microbiol. 8:572-8.

Lawrence, J.G., and Hendrickson, H. (2004) Chromosome structure and constraints on lateral gene transfer. In V. Parisi, V. De Fonzo, F. Aluffi-Pentini (Eds.), Dynamical Genetics (pp. 319-336). Kerala, India: Research Signpost.

Lawrence, J.G., and Hendrickson, H. (2003) Horizontal Gene Transfer: when will adolescence end? Mol. Micro. 50:739-49.

Hendrickson, H., Slechta, E.S., Bergthorsson, U., Andersson, D.I., Roth, J.R. (2002) Amplification-mutagenesis: evidence that "directed" adaptive mutation and general hypermutability result from growth with a selected gene amplification. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA 99:2164-9.