Changing concepts in plant hormone action

Summary A plant hormone is not, in the classic animal sense, a chemical synthesized in one organ, transported to a second organ to exert a chemical action to control a physiological event. Any phytohormone can be synthesized everywhere and can influence different growth and development processes at different places. The concept of physiological activity under hormonal control cannot be dissociated from changes in concentrations at the site of action, from spatial differences and changes in the tissue's sensitivity to the compound, from its transport and its metabolism, from balances and interactions with the other phytohormones, or in their metabolic relationships, and in their signaling pathways as well. Secondary messengers are also involved. Hormonal involvement in physiological processes can appear through several distinct manifestations (as environmental sensors, homeostatic regulators and spatio-temporal synchronizers, resource allocators, biotime adjusters, etc.), dependent on or integrated with the primary biochemical pathways. The time has also passed for the hypothesized ‘specific’ developmental hormones, rhizocaline, canlocaline, and florigen: root, stem, and flower formation result from a sequential control of specific events at the right places through a coordinated control by electrical signals, the known phytohormones and nonspecific molecules of primary and secondary metabolism, and involve both cytoplasmic and apoplastic compartments. These contemporary views are examined in this review.