Many proteins that bind to a 14-3-3 column in competition with a 14-3-3-binding phospho-peptide have been purified from plant and mammalian cells and tissues. New 14-3-3 targets include enzymes of biosynthetic metabolism, vesicle trafficking, cell signalling and chromatin function. These findings indicate central regulatory roles for 14-3-3s in partitioning carbon among the pathways of sugar, amino acid, nucleotide and protein biosynthesis in plants. Our results also suggest that the current perception that 14-3-3s bind predominantly to signalling proteins in mammalian cells is incorrect, and has probably arisen because of the intensity of research on mammalian signalling and for technical reasons.