During the last two decades, molecular genetic studies and the completion of thesequencing of the Arabidopsis thaliana genome have increased knowledge ofhormonal regulation in plants. These signal transduction pathways act in concert throughgene regulatory and signalling networks whose main components have begun to be elucidated.Our understanding of the resulting cellular processes is hindered by the complex, andsometimes counter-intuitive, dynamics of the networks, which may be interconnected throughfeedback controls and cross-regulation. Mathematical modelling provides a valuable tool toinvestigate such dynamics and to perform in silico experiments that may not be easilycarried out in a laboratory. In this article, we firstly review general methods formodelling gene and signalling networks and their application in plants. We then describespecific models of hormonal perception and cross-talk in plants. This mathematicalanalysis of sub-cellular molecular mechanisms paves the way for more comprehensivemodelling studies of hormonal transport and signalling in a multi-scale setting.
