Plants have veins that transport nutrients throughout their whole body. These veins are organized in a highly ordered manner. The plant hormone auxin travels directionally from cell-to-cell and provides cells with positional information, coordinating them during vein formation and regeneration. Until now, it remained a mystery how cells translate auxin signals into a formation of a complex system of veins. Scientists at the Institute of Science and Technology (IST) Austria discovered a molecular machinery that perceives a local auxin concentration and allows cells to synchronize their behavior to coordinate veins formation and regeneration. The scientists published their study in the journal Science. This phenomenon also applies to wound healing and might lead to more mechanically resistant plants and further agricultural implications.