Acknowledgement

This acknowledgement is only an opportunity I get to recall my precious memories, in which all those

helping hands and great minds are present. In true sense, I want to stay in the debt of all those, who

helped me throughout my educational journey.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to Dr. Kalpana H. Mody, Chief Scientist,

CSIR-CSMCRI, for kindly accepting me as her Ph.D. student to do research at CSMCRI, for her

intellectual guidance, continuous gracious support, tremendous help, freedom to explore new ideas,

valuable timely suggestions, encouragement and finally the patience and care made myself strong

enough to complete the task productively.

I am deeply thankful to Prof. Bhavnath Jha, Head & Coordinator of Discipline of Marine

Biotechnology and Ecology, CSIR-CSMCRI, Bhavnagar, for his ideas, suggestions, constant

encouragement throughout the period of my doctoral research work and providing facilities to carry out

the research work.

I would like to convey my heartiest thanks to Dr. P. K. Ghosh, Director, CSIR-CSMCRI, Bhavnagar,

for providing infrastructure facilities of CSMCRI during my Ph. D. research work.

I express my heartfelt thanks to Dr. S. Basha, Dr. S. Haldar and Dr. Avinash Mishra for their interest

and association with my research work, urge to solve difficult problems, invaluable help and consistent

encouragement.

I acknowledge my sincere thanks to Mr. M. R. Gandhi, Dr. V.P. Mohandas, Dr. A. K. Siddhanta, Dr.

C. R. K. Reddy, Dr. H. M. Mody, Dr. Sandhya Mishra, Dr. D. B. Shukla, Mr. Atul Shah, Mr. Mehul

Bhatt, Dr. R. B. Thorat, Dr. D. R. Choudhary and Dr. A. Parida for their kind support and valuable

suggestions during discussions.

I am grateful to my seniors Dr. Yasmin and Dr. Anita for their help, support and for training me in

many experimental techniques. Devang and Nidhi deserves my special thanks for their unconditional

support, encouragement and superb company during my lab hours.

I would like to thank my friends, Jitendra, Mukul, Anju, Naren, Radhe, Esha, Madhavi, Sandesh,

Dinesh, Puja, Vivek, Basit, Amit, Amal, Dhanashree, Dr. Rajendra, Snehal, Dr. Pravin, Praneeta,

Summit, Kamal, Swati, Adarsh, Prafull, Chumki, Appurva, Nileshbhai, Sachin, Suresh, Ganesh,

Aniket, Maggy, Prashant, Manoj, Hitesh, Nilesh, Nilesh Gangurde, Bhupesh sir, Mona, Priyanka,

Vijaya, Deepu, Jitu and Sweety Ostwal with whom I have developed a real bond. Thanks for always

sharing sage advice and suggestions to get through the difficult times and for all the emotional support,

entertainment and care they provided.

I wish to take this opportunity to express thanks to my lab mates and friends Dr. Sanjiv, Dr.

Anupama, Srishti, Imran, Tonmoy, Chetan, Rahul Maurya, Dr. Gopalkrishnan, Dr. Kunal, Kalpesh,

Paras, Esha, Pinal, Dhruva, Manali, Riddhi, Shailesh, Dr. Basil, Kaumeel, Vishal, Deepti, Sourish,

Kavita, Manish, Dinkar, Pushpasheel, Muddasar, Ashish, Vijay, Raj, Sonika, Chirag, Arpan,

Sukhdev, Reddy, Dharmesh, Stalin, Naresh, Shafi Nitin, Abhisek, Ravi, Tomar, Mittal, Rahul,

Vikrant, Rinkal, Khushboo, Sonam, Riddhiba, Pooja and Madhushree for their supportive nature,

positive attitude and for providing a stimulating research environment and a good working

atmosphere.

My special thanks to Dr. Paul, Dr. Boricha, Dr. Rebary, Mr. Patidar, Mr. Brahmbhatt, Mr. Jayesh,

Mr. Gopal, Mr. Agrawal, Mr. Viral and Mr. Satyaveer for their timely assistance and support for

analysis of samples with sophisticated instruments.

I would like to thank our staff members Mr. Vishal Gohel, Mr. Santlal, Mehtabhai, Mr. Manish, Mr.

Vinod and Mr. Kagdi for their support and assistance in administrative and lab work. I am thankful

to Mr. Arvind Sharma, Head, Library, for helping me to provide research articles during this work. I

also thank Mr. Pramod Makwana and Deepak for providing their help regarding internet and printing

facilities. I express my regards to all the staff members of accounts, stores, purchase, administration,

planning, library, IT, security and canteen of CSMCRI for their timely help during my work.

I wish to thank CSIR, Govt. of India, for the Junior Research Fellowship and the Senior Research

Fellowship to pursue my Ph.D.

My dear parents Shri. Manojkumar Jain & Smt. Sunita Jain; grandparents Shri. Samirmalji Ostwal

(Babuji) & Smt. Sayarbai Ostwal (Bai); and family members Sanjumamosa, Sherumamosa,

Gopalmamosa & Ashishmamosa, many thanks for your constant and genuine love, care,

encouragement, understanding, inspiration and support at each step of my life. Special thanks to my

loving sister Kirti and brother Nital for their unconditional love, support and constant motivation

throughout the years, which helped me in keeping my spirit up for achieving my goals. I am deeply

thankful to all my Mamisa, Masiji, Masaji, Buwaji, Phufaji, Uncleji, Auntyji, Brother, Sister and

relatives for their support, blessings, affection and encouragement during this journey.

Last but not the least; I would like to thank God, the Almighty, for the wisdom, blessings, and

perseverance that he has been showering on me throughout my life, especially during my Ph.D work.

Rakeshkumar