RNA-seq of L. japonicus wild type (MG-20) and daphne roots.

Leguminous plants attract symbiotic bacteria to form nitrogen-fixing nodules in roots. Nodule development consists of bacterial infection of root epidermis and subsequent primordium formation in root cortex, steps that need to be spatiotemporally coordinated. A Lotus japonicus mutant, daphne, has uncoupled symbiotic events in epidermis and cortex, in that it promotes excessive bacterial infection in epidermis, but does not produce nodule primordia in cortex. In order to investigate tissue-specific signaling associated with the daphne phenotype, we harvested wild type and daphne roots at 0 (non-inoculated), 1, 2 and 3 days after inoculation with Mesorhizobium loti and performed the time-course RNA-seq analysis.