Well-known for its ability to ripen fruit and wilt flower petals, the gaseous plant hormone known as ethylene also directs a pollinated orchid flower to turn on its seed-making machinery, according to recent work by UC Davis plant molecular biologist Sharman O'Neill. Her basic research may eventually help farmers grow more varieties of seedless fruit, among other applications. As soon as pollen reaches an orchid's stigma, the sticky tip of a flower's reproductive antennae, ethylene floods the flower, unleashing myriad chemical events and initiating the production of ovules, which eventually become seeds after fertilization. O'Neill and her colleagues have identified the surprising source of this ethylene (genes in the stigma), as well as details of its previously unknown role in plant reproduction. For her leading role investigating the molecular and cellular basis of a plant's seed-making machinery, the American Society of Plant Physiology selected O'Neill to give a special lecture at the group's annual meeting last week.