Department of Plant Sciences

Dr Beverley Glover, Senior Lecturer

Beverley Glover

Molecular Control of Plant Development

Welcome to the Molecular Development lab in the Department of Plant Sciences at Cambridge. Plant development is a much more plastic process than animal development, and, because it is environmentally entrained, fits individual plants to their particular habitat. Our objective is to understand the ways in which single gene products control different aspects of plant development and thus contribute to the fitness of plants.

We are also interested in the evolution of developmental programmes, looking at the sequence and function of key genes throughout the plant kingdom, in an effort to associate molecular changes with morphological transitions. Much of our molecular work is carried out using model plant species, such as Arabidopsis thaliana and Antirrhinum majus. The evolutionary work extends throughout the plant kingdom, looking at orchids, daisies and older plant lineages such as the mosses. Our current focus is on the evolution of petal cell form, nectar spur development, pollen development and anther structure.