Iv EXPLANATION OF DISSERTATION FORMAT This diaacrtation conaiata of a ganaral introduction, a literature review, two aeparate nanuacripta, a general concluaion, referencea and acknowledgenenta. The nanuacripta are preaented in the format required for the diaaertation. The Ph.D. candidate, Jane Kwun-Lai Kan Battlea, ia the aenior author and principal investigator for each of the nanuacripta. LITERATURE REVIEW Adtnovlrutas originally ware dlscovarad In human adenoidal call culeuras (79) and a# aganca causing rasplraeory infections of military recruits (40). The human adenoviruses (KAVs) are known to cause acute respiratory illness (40), epidemic keratoconjunctivitis (45) and infantile gastroenteritis (30). In addition, sotM HAVs possess oncogenic potential in nonpermissive cells (43,86). Adenoviruses have been Isolated from a variety of animal species, including monkey, cattle, pig, sheep, horse, dog, goat, mouse, opossum, tree shrew and birds (92). The first Isolation of an adenovirus from cattle vas reported by Klein at al. (49). Bovine Infections frequently are Inapparent, but in calves, bovine adenoviruses (BAVs) can cause pneumonia, enteritis, pneumoenteritls, conjunctivitis, keratoconjunctivitis and twak calf syndrome (46). Only one serotype, BAV-3, is known to be oncogenic for newborn hamsters (25). Bovine Adenoviruses Presently, at least 10 serotypes of BAVs are recognized throughout the world (46,64), The BAVs are divided Into two subgroups based on cultural and antigenic characteristics (6,64). The BAVs have been reviewed extensively (58,64), and their roles in bovine diseases have been summarized by Kahrs (46). The prototype strain of each serotype and the subgroups of BAVs are shown in Table 1.