A C K NOL E D G E M E NT

I am very much thankful for the opportunities given to me in my life to

learn and update continuously in my life.

I express deepest sense of thankfulness and also gratitude to my Guide

Dr. A. Shajahan, Reader in Botany for his guidance and enthusiastic support
along with mentorship as a Research Guide and Supervisor in my professional
and personal upliftment.

I am grateful to Janab. M. J. Noordeen Sahib, President,

Janab. A. K. Khaja Nazeemudeen Sahib, Secretary and Correspondent, Janab.
Hajee. K. A. Khaleel Ahamed Sabib, Treasurer, Janab. M. J. M Jamal
Mohamed Sahib, Assistant Secretary and all other members of the Management
Committee for their encouragement and also for their support by providing
facilities in par excellence with University to complete this research work.

My sincere thanks are due to Janab. Hajee. Dr. R. Khader Mohideen,

Principal, Jamal Mohamed for his kind words of encouragement. I would like
to express my thanks to Janab. Hajee. P. N. P. Mohamed Sahaputheen, Vice
Principal, Janab. Hajee. Dr. A. Mohamed Sindasha, Additional Vice Principal
for their moral support. I am thankful to Janab. Hajee. Dr. M. Sheik
Mohamed, Former Principal & Vice Principal (SF), Jamal Mohamed College.

I express my sincere thanks to Dr. S. Ahmed John, Associate Professor

and Head, P.G and Research Dept. of Botany, Jamal Mohamed College for his
support. I am thankful to Dr. A. Khaleel Ahamed, Associate Professor,
Dr. S. Mohamed Salique, Associate Professor, Dr. M. H. Muhammad Ilyas,
Associate Professor, Dr. M. Ghouse Basha, Associate Professor, Dr. H. Syed
Jahangir, Lecturer (SG) in Botany, Dr. M. Kamaraj, Assistant Professor, Dr. R.
Ravikumar, Assistant Professor all the members from the faculty of Botany,
Jamal Mohamed College for their encouragement.

I wish to express my thankfulness to Prof. M. Purushothaman, Former

Head, Department of Botany, Jamal Mohamed College for his encouragement
and guidance as a senior colleague.
 I wish to express my gratitude to Dr. M. N. Abubacker, Associate
Professor and Head, Department of Botany, National College for his
encouragement in the form of constructive criticism and guidance as a member of
Doctoral Committee.

I shall record my sincere gratitude to Dr. K. Veluthambi, Professor of

Biotechnology, Madurai Kamaraj University for his help in procuring bacterial
strains. I am immensely thankful to Dr. A. Ganapathi, Professor of
Biotechnology, Dr. A. Kasthuri Rangan, Department of Biotechnology,
Bharathidasan University for their valuable support in this regard. I thank
Dr. K. Kathiravan, Assistant Professor of Biotech, University of Madras, for
his moral support and Dr. P. Palani, Assistant Professor, CAS in Botany,
University of Madras, for his valuable help in electron micrography.

It is the immense help by Dr. Claudia Vickers, University of Queensland

who provided information about the plasmid that she has constructed which was
the beginning of everything in this study. I would like to acknowledge the
University of Queensland, Australia for providing me plasmids through
Materials Transfer Agreement.

It would have been impossible to do this Doctoral Research without the

support of summer research fellowship from Indian Academies of Science
(IISc – INSA- NASCI consortium), Rajiv Gandhi Center for Biotechnology,
Trivandrum. The Summer Research fellowship and a chance to stay and work in
Plant Molecular Biology Laboratory, RGCB is greatly acknowledged.

The support provided by Dr. M.G. Purushothama Scientist-C and

Dr. M. Radhakrishna Pillai, Director, RGCB and all other members are always
remembered for their support in my learning.

I express my thanks to my colleagues at the Plant Molecular Biology

Laboratory, P.G and Research Departmant of Botany for sharing their
hardwork. I thank Dr. K. Mohamed Rafi, Assistant Professor of Biotech,
Dr. A. Akbar and Dr. M. Senthil Kumar for their company. I am thankful to
Mr. A. Saravanakumar, Assistant Professor of Botany, National College for his
valuable technical inputs and sharing his expertise in molecular techniques in my
study. I am happy to acknowledge Mr. C. Soundar Raju and,
Mr. K. Varutharaju, Research Scholars for their valuable assistance.

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Dr. V. Nandagopalan,

Associate Professor of Botany, National College for his technical support and
encouragement. I am also thankful to Dr. A. Lakshmi Prabha, Assistant
Professor of Plant Sciences, Bharathidasan University for timely help and
support.

The support provided by Mr. G. Saravanan, Librarian, Botany Lab,

Department of Ecology, French Institute of Pondicherry and Mr. F. R. Sumer,
Deputy Librarian, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong and all other
members are acknowledged for their help regarding literature survey.

The support provided by Dr. S. Sivasankar, Assistant Professor of

Mathematics, NGM College, Pollachi and Mrs. K. Rajalakshmi, Assistant
Professor of Botany, NGM College, Pollachi are always remembered for their
support in writing my Thesis.

Words are immaterial to acknowledge my beloved Mother

Hajeema. Mrs. S. Mumtaz Begum for her financial and emotional support and
my wife Mrs. Rahamath Jahan and daughter Baby. A. Hasanath Farhana for
sacrificing their enjoyable weekends for the sake of my study. I will fail in my
duty if I forget to acknowledge all my family members and relatives for their
considerations.

I am happy to record my sincere thanks to Mr. R. Durairaju, Head

Master (Rtd), K.A.P Viswanathan School for critically reading the script for
the improvement of grammar.

I am happy to acknowledge the service rendered by Mr. S. A. Shafi (ASP

computers), Mr. Joe (Sun Studio), Mr. M. I. Chan Basha (Mohamed
Computers), Mr. M. Masthan, (123 Xerox) for their constant support in
execution of this thesis.

A.ASLAM