Rab GTPases play a role in docking of transport vesicles with their target membranes. Although Rab genes have been found in plants, little is known about their function. In mammals, the Rab11 proteins are associated with the trans-Golgi network but also seem to be essential for the functioning of recycling endosomes. On pages 1819–1833 of this issue, Lu et al. used antisense transformation to investigate the role of a Rab11 GTPase that is expressed in a ripening specific manner in fruit. As would be expected if secretion were affected, the resulting tomato fruit have low levels of cell wall hydrolases and show reduced softening, even though they change color normally. In addition, a number of developmental changes are seen inthe plants, including determinate growth, deformed flowers and ectopic shoots arising from the leaf rachis. As shown in the photograph, inflorescences can be highly branched and bear up to fifty flowers instead of the five to ten produced by the wild type. These effects resemble the phenotypes of some homeotic mutations, suggesting that the trafficking of homeodomain proteins may have been inhibited. However, abnormal hormone levels can also mimic many of these effects so Lu et al. hypothesize that the trafficking of hormone transporters or hormone receptors to the cell membrane or the recycling of membrane receptors has been inhibited in their plants.