Hormone activity in multicellular organisms depends on the generation of specific local responses to general signals. A key question is what molecular mechanisms generate local response specificity and what cellular reprogramming underlies unique developmental output. Auxin controls a wide array of developmental processes, most of which are mediated by the DNA-binding AUXIN RESPONSE FACTORS (ARFs). All land plant genomes encode multiple ARF genes, and in Arabidopsis, these perform distinct functions by regulating different sets of genes. Our research programme is aimed at understanding the mechanistic and structural basis for specificity in auxin response, as well as the local cellular and developmental responses to auxin. I will present recent progress from a combined proteomics, structural biology, genetics, transcriptomics, cell biology and evolutionary biology approach. I will discuss how intrinsic ARF properties and protein complexes determine target gene selection, how these auxin responsive genes collectively determine auxin-controlled plant development, and how these networks may have evolved.

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