Integration of light and hormone signals

After germination, seedlings follow one of two developmental programs, photo- and skotomorphogenesis, and the choice is determined by the interplay between environmental signals (light) and endogenous cues (the plant hormones gibberellins among others). In the December issue of Plant Journal we describe a molecular mechanism that allows the integration of light and gibberellin signaling to tightly control the switch between skoto- and photomorphogenesis. On one hand, the stability of HY5, a transcription factor required by light to promote photomorphogenesis, is enhanced in the light and in situations with compromised GA biosynthesis. And, on the other hand, the promotion of growth during etiolation is exerted by the PIF family of transcription factors, whose abundance is enhanced by the absence of light, and whose activity is regulated by functional interaction with gibberellin signaling. In this addendum we propose that the control of the activity of light-dependent transcription factors by gibberellins is a common theme in other developmental processes, such as shade avoidance and photoperiodic regulation of cell expansion.