Emerging from the shade into the light As a growing seedling emerges into the light, it needs to shift its developmental program to grow toward the light. Signaling components that flip the switch from growth in the shade to growth in the light include phytochromes, which are sensitive to red light, and transcription factors that drive the shade-adapted pattern of development. Ni et al. now show how phosphorylation sets these signaling partners up for destruction. The signaling established by red light invokes photomorphogenesis by promoting the destruction of the photoreceptor and its signaling partner. Science , this issue p. 1160