PROTEIN TRANSLOCATION ON THE DELTA pH-DEPENDENT PATHWAY OF CHLOROPLASTS By VIVIAN FINCHER A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

This dissertation is dedicated to those few men and women who strive to exercise genuine integrity in the pursuit of science and to those less perfect humans who must admire and endure them. While genuine integrity is the underpinning of all science, the burden it imposes on the scientists is a heavy one. By its very definition, integrity makes no exceptions, is indifferent in the face of desire and unrelenting in the wake of fatigue. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to thank her advisor, Dr. Kenneth C. Cline, for his exceptional accessibility and guidance throughout her research project. Dr. Cline has provided a consistent model of integrity and a display of work ethic that have been invaluable. She also expresses gratitude to her other committee members, Dr. hours instructing her in laboratory techniques. This work would not have been possible without the technical advice and assistance of Mike McCaffery and Dr. Hiroki Mori.