Fig. 3: Systemic N status controls lateral root (LR) initiations via the miR2111-TML regulon in L. japonicus (Lotus).

a, b Emerged LRs in (a) Gifu B-129 wild type (wt(G)), tml-6, tml-5 and pUBQ1::MIR2111-3 (2111ox), and in (b) MG20 wildtype (wt(M)) and tml-1 plants. c Number of LR initiations (emerged plus primordial stages) in wt(M) and tml-1 plants. d Simplified model of nitrate dependency of LR initiations in wt and tml mutant plants. e, f Relative mature miR2111 levels in shoots (e) and roots (f). g Relative TML levels in same wild type root systems as in (f). h Simplified model outlining nitrate dependency of miR2111 and TML levels, and root architectural responses. I, j Split root experiments. Relative miR2111 (i) and TML (j) levels in secondary roots of wt(M) plants. e–g, i, j qRT-PCR analyses. RNA levels are relative to those of two reference genes. a, b, e–g, i, j Tissue harvest / analysis after two weeks and (c) 10 days of cultivation. Comparisons used analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post-hoc Tukey. testing (p ≤ 0.05), with distinct letters indicating significant differences and additional Student’s t-test (i, j) comparing only the split roots (n.s. p > 0.05). c–h Trendlines are simplified and not to scale. Plants grown at indicated nitrate concentrations. Sample size, replicates and exact p-values are listed in the Source Data file. Dotplots show individual data points and a line indicating their average value. Boxplot central line shows median value, box limits indicate the 25th and 75th percentile. Whiskers extend 1.5 times the interquartile range, or to the last datapoint. Individual datapoints are represented by dots.