Optiphot fluorescence microscope, E600W fluorescence microscope and T2000E Confocal microscope Cl were from Nikon (Tokyo, Japan). Multitemp III water bath and EPS 500/400 power supply were obtained from Amersham Pharmacia Biotech (Uppsala, Sweden). Gyratory water bath shaker was purchased from New Brunswick Scientific Co., Inc (Edison, NJ). Centrivac and Biofuge table top centrifuge were from Heraeus (Allerod, Denmark). f.!-Quant microplate reader was from Bio-tek Instruments Inc. (Winooski, VT). Protean II polyacrylamide gel system and Mini Trans blot system were from Bio-Rad Laboratories (Hercules, CA). Submarine DNA electrophoresis system was procured fro Bangalore Genei (Bangalore, India). Laminar flow hoods were purchased from Kartos Ltd. (New Delhi, India). Eppendorf 581 OR centrifuge was purchased from Eppendorf (Hamburg, Germany). LS50B flourimeter was from Perkin Elmer Biosystems (Norwalk, CT). Fluostar Optima fluorimeter was from BMG labtech (Offenburg, Germany) BD-LSR flow-cytometer was from Bectinson Dickinson Biosciences (San Jose, CA). Peltier Thermal Cycler-200 was purchased from MJ research (Waltham, MA). Doc-It Gel Documentation system was procured from UVP Bio Imaging System Incorporation (Upland, CA)

Instrumentation