The people behind the papers - Qiang Zhu, Marcal Gallemi and Eva Benkova

The apical hook is a transient structure that functions to protect the vulnerable apical meristem from damage when the seedling penetrates the soil. Although some of the molecular players regulating its development have been identified, many aspects have remained opaque, including how an early auxin asymmetry in the hypocotyl is established. A paper in Development now provides a link between hormone signalling and the gravitropic response of the seedling's growing root in apical hook development. We caught up with co-first authors Qiang Zhu and Marcal Gallemi and their supervisor Eva Benkova, Professor at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria in Klosterneuberg, to find out more about the project.