Characterizing the landscape of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase protein production in Bacillus subtilis

The phenotype of a cell is a consequence of both the identity of the genes in the genome and the magnitude of their expression into proteins. While the biochemical function of many proteins has been uncovered, for most it is unclear how important native protein abundances are for cell fitness. Furthermore, linking changes in abundances with downstream effects on enzymatic output, pathway function, and ultimately cell fitness is unexplored in nearly all cases. Here I use a model enzyme family, the aminoacyl tRNA synthetases (aaRS), to explore how sensitive Bacillus subtilis are to changes in aaRS production from the molecular to phenotypic level. This culmination of protein levels, functional output, and fitness, leads to a complete "fitness landscape" for the aaRS proteins and provides a framework for future study in quantitative biology.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctoral

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• Parker, Darren John.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Gene-Wei Li.

• Biology.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129034

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/129034