Gabriel Dover

Gabriel A. Dover (13 December 1937 – 1 April 2018) was a British geneticist, best known for coining the term molecular drive in 1982 to describe a putative third evolutionary force operating distinctly from natural selection and genetic drift.[10][11][12][3]

Gabriel Dover
Born
Gabriel A. Dover

(1937-12-13)13 December 1937
Manchester
Died1 April 2018(2018-04-01) (aged 80)
Alma mater
Known forMolecular drive[1][2]
Scientific career
Institutions
ThesisThe genetics and function of the meiotic pairing-control systems in the triticinae (1972)
Doctoral advisorRalph Riley[3]
Doctoral students

Early life and education

Dover was born in Manchester in 1937. Born to a Jewish family, his first degree was in Hebrew and Aramaic (first class) from the University of London in 1960. His adolescence included moving to Palestine in 1938–1942, and again for 5 years after the war, when he lived in Israel on a kibbutz. Described as "deeply politicised" and discomforted with the plight of the Palestinians he returned to the UK, and pursued a life in academia. He moved from a degree in Hebrew to the University of Leeds where he took a first in botany in 1969 followed by a PhD in plant genetics at Cambridge under Sir Ralph Riley. He subsequently took up academic positions (Lecturer in genetics at Cambridge, Head of Department at Leicester), supervising many students.[13]

Dover was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in botany and genetics from the University of Leeds.[14] He was awarded a PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1972 for research on the genetics and function of the meiotic pairing-control systems supervised by Ralph Riley.[3][15]

Research and career

Dover's research was on the evolution of genes and genomes, particularly the complex processes that occur in multigene families such as ribosomal RNA genes. His recent work has focused on development in flies, in particular the co-evolution between the developmental regulatory elements involved in morphogenesis.

The majority of his career was spent at the Department of Genetics at the University of Cambridge. In 1992, Dover became a Professor of Genetics at the University of Leicester.[16] He was awarded a Research Fellowship in 1997 and an Emeritus Fellowship in 2002 by the Leverhulme Trust.[17]

Dover co-edited the textbook Genome Evolution[18][19] with Richard B. Flavell. He also wrote a popular book on evolution, Dear Mr Darwin: Letters on the Evolution of Life and Human Nature,[20] framed as an exchange of letters with Charles Darwin from beyond the grave. The book seeks to refute the selfish gene theory promulgated by Richard Dawkins.

Personal life

Dover retired in 2002 and lived in Oxford.[3] He had three children. He died on 1 April 2018 of a chest infection.[3]

References
  1. Dover, G. A.; Strachan, T; Coen, E. S.; Brown, S. D. (1982). "Molecular drive". Science. New York, N.Y. 218 (4577): 1069. Bibcode:1982Sci...218.1069D. doi:10.1126/science.7146895. PMID 7146894.
  2. Dover, G. A. (1986). "Molecular drive in multigene families: How biological novelties arise, spread and are assimilated". Trends in Genetics. 2: 159–165. doi:10.1016/0168-9525(86)90211-8.
  3. Kyriacou, Bambos (2018). "Bereavements: Professor Gabriel Dover". le.ac.uk. University of Leicester. Archived from the original on 4 July 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  4. Brown, Stephen D. M. (1981). The molecular organisation and evolution of rodent genomes (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC 556404448. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.252843.
  5. Brown, S. D. M.; Dover, G. A. (1980). "Conservation of segmental variants of satellite DNA of Mus musculus in a related species: Mus spretus". Nature. 285 (5759): 47–9. Bibcode:1980Natur.285...47B. doi:10.1038/285047a0. PMID 7374752. S2CID 4326610.
  6. Brown, S. D.; Dover, G (1981). "Organization and evolutionary progress of a dispersed repetitive family of sequences in widely separated rodent genomes". Journal of Molecular Biology. 150 (4): 441–66. doi:10.1016/0022-2836(81)90374-0. PMID 6276556.
  7. Brownlee, C. (2004). "Biography of Enrico Coen". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 101 (14): 4725–4727. Bibcode:2004PNAS..101.4725B. doi:10.1073/pnas.0401746101. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 387315. PMID 15051867.
  8. Coen, Enrico S.; Thoday, John M.; Dover, Gabriel (1982). "Rate of turnover of structural variants in the rDNA gene family of Drosophilam elanogaster". Nature. 295 (5850): 564–568. Bibcode:1982Natur.295..564C. doi:10.1038/295564a0. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 6799840. S2CID 4347190.
  9. Coen, Enrico Sandro (1982). The dynamics of multigene family evolution in Drosophila (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC 499809938.
  10. Dover, Gabriel (1982). "Molecular drive: A cohesive mode of species evolution". Nature. 299 (5879): 111–117. Bibcode:1982Natur.299..111D. doi:10.1038/299111a0. PMID 7110332. S2CID 4317964.
  11. Gabriel Dover publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
  12. Wratten, N. S.; McGregor, A. P.; Shaw, P. J.; Dover, G. A. (2006). "Evolutionary and functional analysis of the tailless enhancer in Musca domestica and Drosophila melanogaster". Evolution & Development. 8 (1): 6–15. doi:10.1111/j.1525-142X.2006.05070.x. PMID 16409378. S2CID 13560187.
  13. "Issue 81 of the Genetics Society news" (PDF). The Genetics Society. July 2019.
  14. ep256. "Professor Gabriel Dover — University of Leicester". www2.le.ac.uk. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  15. Dover, Gabriel A. (1972). The genetics and function of the meiotic pairing-control systems in the triticinae (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC 500428008. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.453906.
  16. Dover G. Dear Mr Darwin: Letters on the Evolution of Life and Human Nature (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2000); biographical note, p.4.
  17. "Williams L. Fellowships", Times Higher Educational Supplement, 24 October 1997. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
    - Awards to Individuals 2002, The Leverhulme Trust. Retrieved 21 March 2010. Archived 21 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  18. Genome Evolution (Academic Press, 1982)
  19. Baglioni, C. (1983). "Genome evolution GA Dover and RB Flavell (eds) London: Academic Press Ltd., 1982, $ 19.50". American Journal of Medical Genetics. 15 (2): 349. doi:10.1002/ajmg.1320150223.
  20. Dear Mr Darwin: Letters on the Evolution of Life and Human Nature (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2000) ISBN 0520227905
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