About
Biographies
Research Interests and Accomplishments
Hutchison is Distinguished Investigator at the J. Craig Venter Institute in San Diego, California, where he is a member of the Synthetic Biology Group headed by Hamilton Smith. He is also Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of Synthetic Genomics, Inc. In 1995 he was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences.
He graduated from Yale University in 1960, with a B.S. degree in Physics. His graduate studies were in the laboratory of Robert L. Sinsheimer at Cal Tech where he finished his Ph.D. in 1968. He was a member of the faculty of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1968 until 2005, where he now holds the title Kenan Professor Emeritus.
He has worked on the molecular genetics of bacteriophage, bacteria, and mammals. In Fred Sanger's lab (1975-6) he helped determine the first complete sequence of a DNA molecule (phiX174). He developed site-directed mutagenesis with Michael Smith (1978). In 1990 he began work with mycoplasmas as models for the minimal cell. This led to collaboration with Smith and Venter, and his current work on synthetic genomics.
Select Publications
Tagwerker C, Dupont CL, et al.
Sequence Analysis of a Complete 1.66 Mb Prochlorococcus marinus MED4 Genome Cloned in Yeast.
Nucleic Acids Research. 2012 Nov 01; 40: 10375-83.[more]
Gibson, D. G., Benders, G. A., et al.
Complete Chemical Synthesis, Assembly, and Cloning of a Mycoplasma genitalium Genome
Science. 2008 Jan 24; 319(5867): 1215-20.[more]
Hutchison, C. A., 3rd
DNA Sequencing: Bench to Bedside and Beyond
Nucleic Acids Res. 2007 Sep 12;[more]
Lartigue, C., Glass, J. I., et al.
Genome Transplantation In Bacteria: Changing One Species to Another
Science. 2007 Aug 03; 317(5838): 632-8.[more]
Hutchison, C. A., 3rd, Smith, H. O., et al.
Cell-free Cloning Using Phi29 DNA Polymerase
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Nov 29; 102(48): 17332-6.[more]
Smith, H. O., Hutchison, C. A., 3rd, et al.
Generating a Synthetic Genome by Whole Genome Assembly: PhiX174 Bacteriophage from Synthetic Oligonucleotides
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Dec 23; 100(26): 15440-5.[more]
Hutchison, C. A., Peterson, S. N., et al.
Global Transposon Mutagenesis and a Minimal Mycoplasma Genome
Science. 1999 Dec 10; 286(5447): 2165-9.[more]
Fraser, C. M., Gocayne, J. D., et al.
The Minimal Gene Complement of Mycoplasma genitalium
Science. 1995 Oct 20; 270(5235): 397-403.[more]
Peterson, S. N., Hu, P. C., et al.
A Survey of the Mycoplasma genitalium Genome by Using Random Sequencing
J Bacteriol. 1993 Dec 01; 175(24): 7918-30.[more]
Loeb, D. D., Padgett, R. W., et al.
The Sequence of a Large L1Md Element Reveals a Tandemly Repeated 5' End and Several Features Found In Retrotransposons
Mol Cell Biol. 1986 Jan 01; 6(1): 168-82.[more]
Hutchison, C. A., 3rd, Phillips, S., et al.
Mutagenesis at a Specific Position In a DNA Sequence
J Biol Chem. 1978 Sep 25; 253(18): 6551-60.[more]
Barrell, B. G., Air, G. M., et al.
Overlapping Genes In Bacteriophage PhiX174
Nature. 1976 Nov 04; 264(5581): 34-41.[more]
Hutchison, C. A., 3rd, Newbold, J. E., et al.
Maternal Inheritance of Mammalian Mitochondrial DNA
Nature. 1974 Oct 11; 251(5475): 536-8.[more]