Patterning the female side of Arabidopsis: the importance of hormones

The study of floral organ development has been a driving force in plant developmental biology research for the last two decades, and there is now an enormous wealth of information about the genetic networks underlying the specification of floral organ identity and the acquisition of its final morphology and function. These and parallel studies on leaf morphogenesis and development have made evident the common evolutionary origin of all plant lateral organs and the recurrent use of variations in the regulatory circuits involved in the shaping of leaves and flowers. This review summarizes the latest progress on the study of the development of the gynoecium, the female reproductive organ of the flower, stressing the connections with the developmental programme of leaf morphogenesis, and highlighting the common role of hormonal cues in these processes.