The adoption of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) as a model plant in the early 1980s led to a revolution in plant molecular genetics. Its diminutive size, rapid generation time, and small genome made Arabidopsis a fantastic tool, allowing us to build a complex picture of the genetic architecture underlying plant development (Koornneef and Meinke, 2010). Light and temperature are important modulators of plant growth, and in Arabidopsis, these environmental cues are integrated through the PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR (PIF) family of transcription factors. If we wish to convert our knowledge of Arabidopsis development into enhanced food security, it is essential that we investigate the conservation of these pathways in nutritionally relevant crops. In this issue of Plant Physiology, Rosado et al. (2019) from the Magdalena Rossi lab at the University of São Paulo take a step toward doing so with a thorough characterization of PIF4 in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum).

© The Author(s) 2019.