Fig. 1: DC migration during the day elicits greater lymph node expansion.

a, b Time course of cell counts, normalized to the 12 h time point on the contralateral side in a parotid lymph node (LN), n = 3 mice; or b popliteal LN, n = 3–9 mice; from 5 independent experiments each, two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post test. c Dose-response curve of total cell counts in the popliteal LN 48 h post-injection, normalized to the contralateral side; n = 2–3 mice, two-way ANOVA with Sidak’s post test. d, e Number of exogenous (CFSE⁺) bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs) in popliteal LNs quantified by flow cytometry (d), n = 3–14 mice from 5 independent experiments, two-way ANOVA with Sidak’s post test; or by confocal microscopy (e) 24 h post-injection, n = 8 mice, unpaired two-sided Student’s t test, scale bar: 500 µm. f Median velocities of intravenously injected CD4⁺ T cells in popliteal LN in steady-state conditions and after FITC painting. Tracks were pooled from 3–4 mice per group; n = 186–777 total tracks, unpaired two-sided Student’s t test. Scale bar: 50 µm. g (Left) Representative overlay of CD4⁺ T cell migration tracks. (Right) Euclidean distance of CD4⁺ T cells from (f). Euclidian distances were pooled from 3–4 mice per group; n = 186–777 total tracks, one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post test. h Model predictions (Supplementary Table 1 (ID1, ID2)) for the fold-change in the interaction probability of DC and T cells comparing rhythmic migratory dynamics (red dashed line) to non-rhythmic migration (gray dotted line). The mean (black line) and the range (min–max, gray shaded area) of the predicted fold change across skin draining LNs are shown. i Model predictions for the fold-change in the interaction probability of DC and T cells, assuming different combinations of rhythmic and non-rhythmic components based on the mean dynamics across skin draining LNs. j Number of CD69⁺ CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells in draining LNs 48 h post-FITC; n = 9 mice; two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post test. Data are plotted as mean ± standard error of mean (SEM); ns, not significant. Source data are provided as a Source data file and detailed sample sizes are available in “Methods”.