Gray, winner of an bronze medal at Sochi 2014 as the alternate fifth player in Muirhead's line-up, will now take up the role of lead.

The 24-year-old clashed with Muirhead as a rival skip in this season's Scottish Championships, where she lost to the 2013 world champion in the final.

Earlier this month it was announced that Sarah Reid would be leaving the line-up, along with British Curling coach Phil Hay.

Anna Sloan and Vicki Adams remain in the main quartet.

"It is a fantastic opportunity to join such a highly experienced and successful team and I feel very fortunate to be in this position," said Gray.

"We achieved a tight knit dynamic when I was the fifth player and I have experienced previous gold medal success with Anna and Vicky at the World University Games in 2011.

"I believe these experiences will give me a strong foundation to build upon going forward as a new member of the team."

Gray will depart her role as a researcher for Odgers Berndtson to become a full-time curler.

"Lauren has had experience of high level competition and is used to being on the big stage having been our alternate at the World Championships in Riga in 2013 when we won gold and also in Sochi too," said Muirhead

"This was an important factor as we needed someone that could make the smooth transition into our team who had that background of competition experience.

"It will be a big change for Lauren but she will adapt quickly from skip to lead as she is a very good player and her ability to analyse and read the game will be an added strength to our rink as Anna and Vicki are also very analytical, so this line up change will reinvigorate our team."