Nutrient cues from the roots co-regulate light responses in the shoot: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52828-y. Gautrat et al., 2024, Nature Communications

Our former postdoc Pierre Gautrat received an EMBO long-term fellowship to investigate root-shoot signalling in shade avoidance regulation. Pierre discovered that nitrate shortage in the growth medium limits shade avoidance. In a search for why this is, we discovered that the effect can be overcome by adding cytokinins to the plant. We observed that far-red light sensitises the plants to cytokinins, via a down regulation of typ-A ARRs, which are suppressors of the cytokinin response.