Bennett, Matthew R2019-05-172019-05-172018-052018-04-20May 2018O'Brien, Erin O. "Understanding the Role of Protein Degradation in Synthetic Gene Circuits." (2018) Diss., Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/105771">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/105771</a>.https://hdl.handle.net/1911/105771Synthetic gene circuits are built with mathematical predictions and are further characterized experimentally. Most synthetic circuits utilize degradation tags to normalize and speed up the rate of degradation of circuit components. Despite their widespread use, the effect of degradation tags on circuit dynamics has not been well studied. This work aims to characterize the degradation rate of the ssrA degradation tag variants on a single substrate level and determine their role in overall network dynamics within a synthetic gene circuit at the single cell resolution. mall differences in the protein degradation rates indicating that the parameter space for the degradation tags is critical for achieving desired circuit dynamics. Mathematically and experimentally, this work demonstrates varying the rate of degradation can ultimately dictate the output oscillations for the circuit dynamics. The ultimate goal of this work is to create a better understanding of the role degradation plays in synthetic gene circuit dynamics.application/pdfengCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.Synthetic BiologyssrAClpXPProtein DegradationMathematical ModelingThesis2019-05-17