ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

 Many thanks to Roy A. Jensen for the inspiration and 

 guidance throughout my studies for this dissertation. I 

 thank, also, ray committee members. Dr. Richard P. Boyce from 

 the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; and 

 frora the Department of Microbiology and Cell Science, Dr. 

 Lonnie 0. Ingram, Dr. Robert R. Schmidt and Dr. Keelnatham 

 T. Shanmugam for their support and encouragement in 

 completion of this dissertation. Special thanks to all the 

 members of our lab who have been a great source of help to 

 me during these studies. Firstly, to Randy Fischer and 

 Premila Rao, my most grateful thanks for their help and 

 encouragement in so many ways from the very beginning of my 

 studies. Thanks to Astride Rodrigues, Jackie Miller, 

 Michelle Miller for all the work in the tissue culture lab. 

 Most special thanks to Tianhui Xia, Genshi Zhao, Prem 

 Subramaniara, Wei Gu and Jain Song for all the discussion and 

 work we have done together. I would also like to thank the 

 other members of the microbiology and cell science 

 department who have helped me with their knowledge and 

 advice, especially Philip Miller, for all the information 

 and insight that he gave me with respect to the molecular 

 biology portion of my dissertation. 



ii 



