Professor Stuart A. Hill
Educational Background
Post Doc
Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIAID
Institute of Molecular Biology
University of Oregon
Ph.D., 1987, University of Montana
M.S., 1984, University of Montana
B.S., 1977, University of St. Andrews, Scotland
Interests
Pathogenic microbiology.
Contact
Stuart HIll
sahill@niu.edu
(815) 753-7943
Offie: MO 325A, Lab: MO 407
Dept. of Biological Sciences
Northern Illinois University
DeKalb, IL 60115
Representative Publications
Hill, S. A. Stress responses in the pathogenic Neisseria: overlapping regulons and sRNA regulation. pp.115-132. In: Advances in Molecular and Cellular Microbiology. S. Kidd, ed. CABI Press, 2011.
Metruccio, M. M. E., Pigozzi, E., Roncarati, D., Scorza, F. B., Norais, N., Hill, S. A., Scarlato, V., and Delany, I. A novel phase variation mechanism in the meningococcus driven by a ligand-responsive repressor and differential spacing of distal promoter elements. PLoS Pathog 5:e1000710, 2009
Hill, S. A. and Davies J. K. (2009) Pilin gene variation in Neisseria gonorrhoeae: reassessing the old paradigms. FEMS Micro Rev 33: 521-530.
Mellin, JR and Hill, S. 2008. Gene Expression Strategies of the Pathogenic Neisseria. In: Neisseria- Molecular Mechanisms of Pathogenesis C. Genco and L. Wetzler, eds. Horizon Scientific Press, Norwich, UK.
Hill, S. A., Woodward, T., Reger, A., Baker, R., and Dinse, T. Role for the RecBCD recombination pathway for pilE gene variation in repair proficient Neisseria gonorrhoeae. J. Bacteriol. 189: 7983-7990, 2007.
Lee, E. H., Hill, S. A., Napier, R., and Shafer, W. M. Integration Host Factor is required for FarR repression of the farAB-encoded efflux pump of Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Mol. Microbiol 60: 1381-1400, 2006.
Fisher, S. D., Reger, A.D., Baum, A., and Hill, S. A. RelA alone appears essential for (p)ppGpp production when Neisseria gonorrhoeae encounters nutritional stress. FEMS 248: 1-8, 2005.
Martin, P., Makepeace, K., Hill, S. A., Hood, D. W., and Moxon, E. R. Microsatellite instability regulates transcription factor binding and gene expression. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102:3800-3804, 2005
Hill, S. A. Emerging Infectious Disease 2005 (Ed. M. Palladino). Benjamin Cummings
Roquette-Loughlin, C., Balthazar, J. T., Hill, S. A., and Shafer, W. M. Modulation of the mtrCDE-encoded efflux pump gene complex of Neisseria meningitidis due to a Correia Element insertion sequence. Mol Microbiol 54:731-41, 2004
Meyer, T. F., and Hill, S. A. 2003. Genetic variation in the pathogenic Neisseria spp. pp. 142-164 In: Antigenic variation (Eds. A. Craig and A. Scherf). Academic press.
Hill, S. A., Samuels, D. S., Nielsen, C., Knight, S. W., Pagotto, F. and Dillon, J. R: Integration host factor interactions with Neisseria gene sequences: correlation between predicted binding sites and in vitro binding of Neisseria-derived IHF protein. Mol. Cell Probes 16: 153-158, 2002.
Hill, S. A., and Grant, C. C. R.: Recombinational-error and deletion formation in Neisseria gonorrhoeae: a role for RecJ in the production of pilEL deletions. Mol. Gen. Genom. 266: 962-972, 2002.
Hill, S. A. Neisseria gonorrhoeae recJ mutants show defects in recombinational-repair of alkylated bases and UV-induced pyrimidine dimers. Mol. Gen. Genet. 264: 268-275, 2000.
Hill, S. A. (2000) Opa-expression correlates with elevated transformation rates in Neisseria gonorrhoeae. J. Bacteriol. 182: 171-178.
Hill, S. A. (1999) Cell to cell transmission of donor DNA overcomes differential incorporation of homologous and non-homologous markers in Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Gene 240: 175-182.
Chaussee, M.S., Wilson, J. and Hill, S. A. (1999) Characterization of the recD gene of Neisseria gonorrhoeae MS11 and the effect of recD inactivation on pilin variation and DNA transformation. Microbiology. 145: 389-400.
Chaussee, M. S., and Hill, S. A. (1998) Formation of single-stranded DNA during DNA transformation of Neisseria gonorrhoeae. J. Bacteriol. 180: 5117-5122.
Hill, S. A., Belland, R. J., and Wilson, J. (1998) The ihf mRNA levels decline as Neisseria gonorrhoeae enters the stationary growth phase. Gene 215: 303-310.
Hill, S.A., D.S. Samuels, J.H. Carlson, J. Wilson, D. Hogan, L. Lubke and R.J. Belland. 1997. Integration host factor is a transcription cofactor of pilE in Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Mol. Microbiol. 23:649-656.
Hill, S.A., M.M. Stahl and F.W. Stahl. 1997. Single-chain DNA intermediates in phage lambdas Red recombination pathway. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 94:2951-2956.
Carlson, J.H., and Hill, S.A. 1997. Molecular characterization of Thymidylate Synthase in Neisseria gonorrhoeae. FEMS Micro. Letts. 151:225-23.
Research Interests
Prokaryotic recombination, especially as applied to the molecular genetics of Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
At NIU my laboratory is continuing my studies in Neisseria genetic recombination with emphasis on pilin antigenic variation.
Gonorrhea is the second most prevalent disease in the US with billions of dollars spent annually on treatment, and development of an effective vaccine is highly desirable.
Unfortunately, the gonococcus undergoes antigenic variation in which several surface components change their (antigenic) structure. One of these antigens that "changes its spots" is the pilin polypeptide - a major component of the pilus which is an absolute requirement for anchoring the organism to the genital tract epithelium during infection. By studying the genetic recombinant mechanisms involved in pilin antigenic variation, we are attempting to identify mechanisms that can then therapeutically be used to interfere with the infectious process.