{"id":{"repo_id":"mit","oai_identifier":"oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/45205"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/mit/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/45205","repository":{"repo_id":"mit","name":"MIT","base_url":"https://dspace.mit.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Engineering phosphorylation-dependent post-translational protein devices","abstract":"One goal underlying synthetic biology is to develop standard biological parts that can be reliably assembled into devices encoding higher-order functions. Here, I developed a framework for engineering post-translational devices, which are devices whose inner workings are modulated by non-covalent protein interactions and covalent protein modifications. To test the framework, I designed a scaffold for engineering post-translational devices in yeast, the Phospholocator, that can be used to assemble peptide parts in order to produce devices that couple upstream kinase activity to regulated nuclear translocation. I used the Phospholocator to design, build, and characterize a Phospholocator device, the Cdc28-Phospholocator, whose location is regulated by the activity of cyclin-dependent kinase Cdc28. I next engineered and tested a Fus3-Phospholocator device, whose location is regulated by the activity of the mitogen-activated protein kinase Fus3, in order to demonstrate that the Phospholocator scaffold supports the engineering of many post-translational devices. I used the Cdc28-Phospholocator to follow Cdc28 activity levels throughout the yeast cell cycle, thereby illustrating the utility of the Cdc28-Phospholocator as a tool for biological inquiry. To implement more complex functions, device engineers will want to connect post-translational devices to build multi-component systems. I thus developed a model for device composition that features a universal signal carrier that is both input into and output from post-translational devices. The universal signal could enable engineers to easily combine devices in any desired order, and thus build many new post-translational systems.","abstract_html":"One goal underlying synthetic biology is to develop standard biological parts that can be reliably assembled into devices encoding higher-order functions. Here, I developed a framework for engineering post-translational devices, which are devices whose inner workings are modulated by non-covalent protein interactions and covalent protein modifications. To test the framework, I designed a scaffold for engineering post-translational devices in yeast, the Phospholocator, that can be used to assemble peptide parts in order to produce devices that couple upstream kinase activity to regulated nuclear translocation. I used the Phospholocator to design, build, and characterize a Phospholocator device, the Cdc28-Phospholocator, whose location is regulated by the activity of cyclin-dependent kinase Cdc28. I next engineered and tested a Fus3-Phospholocator device, whose location is regulated by the activity of the mitogen-activated protein kinase Fus3, in order to demonstrate that the Phospholocator scaffold supports the engineering of many post-translational devices. I used the Cdc28-Phospholocator to follow Cdc28 activity levels throughout the yeast cell cycle, thereby illustrating the utility of the Cdc28-Phospholocator as a tool for biological inquiry. To implement more complex functions, device engineers will want to connect post-translational devices to build multi-component systems. I thus developed a model for device composition that features a universal signal carrier that is both input into and output from post-translational devices. The universal signal could enable engineers to easily combine devices in any desired order, and thus build many new post-translational systems.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Sutton, Samantha C. (Samantha Carol)"],"institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Biological Engineering Division.","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Drew Endy."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2008,"date_issued":"2008","date_published":"2008","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:21:47Z","subjects":["Biological Engineering Division."],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission."],"rights_urls":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/45205","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Drew Endy."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Biological Engineering Division."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.other","label":"Dc Contributor Other","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Biological Engineering Division."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Sutton, Samantha C. 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They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission."]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/45205"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Biological Engineering Division, 2008.","Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-127)."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["One goal underlying synthetic biology is to develop standard biological parts that can be reliably assembled into devices encoding higher-order functions. Here, I developed a framework for engineering post-translational devices, which are devices whose inner workings are modulated by non-covalent protein interactions and covalent protein modifications. To test the framework, I designed a scaffold for engineering post-translational devices in yeast, the Phospholocator, that can be used to assemble peptide parts in order to produce devices that couple upstream kinase activity to regulated nuclear translocation. I used the Phospholocator to design, build, and characterize a Phospholocator device, the Cdc28-Phospholocator, whose location is regulated by the activity of cyclin-dependent kinase Cdc28. I next engineered and tested a Fus3-Phospholocator device, whose location is regulated by the activity of the mitogen-activated protein kinase Fus3, in order to demonstrate that the Phospholocator scaffold supports the engineering of many post-translational devices. I used the Cdc28-Phospholocator to follow Cdc28 activity levels throughout the yeast cell cycle, thereby illustrating the utility of the Cdc28-Phospholocator as a tool for biological inquiry. To implement more complex functions, device engineers will want to connect post-translational devices to build multi-component systems. I thus developed a model for device composition that features a universal signal carrier that is both input into and output from post-translational devices. The universal signal could enable engineers to easily combine devices in any desired order, and thus build many new post-translational systems.","(cont.) I next developed a set of specifications and guidelines for designing prototypical protein parts for engineering post-translational devices that communicate via the universal signal carrier. I used the universal signal model and the corresponding set of device specifications to design and model a proof-of-principle. multi-device post-translational system, a post-translational latch, that functions as designed. Taken together, my initial experiences in engineering post-translational devices, defining universal device signals that enable device interconnectivity, and designing, modeling, and analyzing the model of a functional multi-device system, along with the work of many other groups, are sufficiently encouraging to motivate continued work on post-translational devices."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Engineering phosphorylation-dependent post-translational protein devices"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Drew Endy."],"dc:contributor.department":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Biological Engineering Division."],"dc:contributor.other":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Biological Engineering Division."],"dc:creator":["Sutton, Samantha C. (Samantha Carol)"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2009-04-29T17:07:51Z"],"dc:date.available":["2009-04-29T17:07:51Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2008"],"dc:description":["Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Biological Engineering Division, 2008.","Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-127)."],"dc:description.abstract":["One goal underlying synthetic biology is to develop standard biological parts that can be reliably assembled into devices encoding higher-order functions. Here, I developed a framework for engineering post-translational devices, which are devices whose inner workings are modulated by non-covalent protein interactions and covalent protein modifications. To test the framework, I designed a scaffold for engineering post-translational devices in yeast, the Phospholocator, that can be used to assemble peptide parts in order to produce devices that couple upstream kinase activity to regulated nuclear translocation. I used the Phospholocator to design, build, and characterize a Phospholocator device, the Cdc28-Phospholocator, whose location is regulated by the activity of cyclin-dependent kinase Cdc28. I next engineered and tested a Fus3-Phospholocator device, whose location is regulated by the activity of the mitogen-activated protein kinase Fus3, in order to demonstrate that the Phospholocator scaffold supports the engineering of many post-translational devices. I used the Cdc28-Phospholocator to follow Cdc28 activity levels throughout the yeast cell cycle, thereby illustrating the utility of the Cdc28-Phospholocator as a tool for biological inquiry. To implement more complex functions, device engineers will want to connect post-translational devices to build multi-component systems. I thus developed a model for device composition that features a universal signal carrier that is both input into and output from post-translational devices. The universal signal could enable engineers to easily combine devices in any desired order, and thus build many new post-translational systems.","(cont.) I next developed a set of specifications and guidelines for designing prototypical protein parts for engineering post-translational devices that communicate via the universal signal carrier. I used the universal signal model and the corresponding set of device specifications to design and model a proof-of-principle. multi-device post-translational system, a post-translational latch, that functions as designed. Taken together, my initial experiences in engineering post-translational devices, defining universal device signals that enable device interconnectivity, and designing, modeling, and analyzing the model of a functional multi-device system, along with the work of many other groups, are sufficiently encouraging to motivate continued work on post-translational devices."],"dc:description.degree":["Ph.D."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/45205"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"],"dc:rights":["MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission."],"dc:rights.uri":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"dc:subject":["Biological Engineering Division."],"dc:title":["Engineering phosphorylation-dependent post-translational protein devices"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:21:47Z"}