In the lab, we are interested in understanding how environmental light conditions regulate plant development. Specifically, our research aims to learn how plants acclimate to the proximity of vegetation (close proximity of other plants might filter sunlight, resulting in light starvation). To understand this response at the genetic and molecular level, as a reference model system we employ Arabidopsis thaliana, a sun-loving plant that avoids vegetation proximity and shade by activating a set of responses collectively known as the shade avoidance syndrome (SAS). The most obvious SAS response is the induction of the hypocotyl elongation in A. thaliana seedlings and many other species. We have expanded our research to Cardamine hirsuta, a plant species closely related to A. thaliana that tolerates (instead of avoids) plant shade. Therefore, it can be used in similar genetics and molecular approaches as A. thaliana. Our comparative analyses between both species led us to conclude that tolerance to plant shade results from activating shade-responsive mechanisms that suppress hypocotyl elongation. In the long term, our research is expected to help us to understand how plants communicate to each other, a knowledge that will contribute to make the agrosystems more complex and, therefore, more resilient, an approach to transition towards a more sustainable agriculture.