The Millar research group
www.amillar.org

Andrew Millar is the co-ordinator of the Genomic Arabidopsis Resource Network (GARNet) and a member of Warwick's Interdisciplinary Programme for Cellular Regulation (IPCR). He has recently been appointed to a Chair of Systems Biology at the University of Edinburgh.

Biological Clocks in Plants

Plants, fungi, animals and some bacteria have internal, 24-hour clocks. These "circadian" clocks affect our lives in many ways, through industry, agriculture and human health.

Web tutorials on biological clocks. Try these first, if clocks are new to you.

Our research aims to understand how the circadian clock is constructed and adjusted, how it affects plant life and how the clock is evolving. Most of our research focuses on Arabidopsis, which is a small plant with a big following. Molecular genetics and transgenic plants help us by revealing rhythms that are usually invisible: for example, we use a reporter gene called luciferase to send us video footage when other genes are active, like the 24-hour clip at the top of this page. Mathematical modelling helps us to understand the principles behind the molecular detail.

The links on this page lead to more details on each topic. Link to 700-word outline of our research projects, with results of a sample experiment.

Details and external links: