Positional information is an important determinant in the establishment of
cellular identity in plants. It is established during pattern formation and
is maintained in growing organs. Cells maintain the ability to respond to
changes in positional information during development indicating that the me
chanism for perceiving such information must remain intact until relatively
late in development. Once positional cues are perceived they set in motion
a number of cascades resulting in the differentiation of particular cell t
ypes in defined locations. The circuitry underpinning these later events is
being teased out using genetics. Evidence is emerging for the existence of
an array of both positive and negative genetic regulators from studies in
a number of diverse plant model systems.