Fig. 5

Visual and molecular phenotypes of HCT1/2-RNAi transgenic plants (HCT1/2Ri-xx) simultaneously downregulated for HCT1 and 2 expression. A NFCX1 wild type (WT) (Control; left) and HCT1/2Ri transgenic (HCT1/2Ri-34 line, right) plants at R1 stage. B Lignin monomer content in stems of WT and HCT1/2Ri plants at R1 stage. Guaiacyl (G), syringyl (S) and p-hydroxyphenyl (H) lignin monomers were measured. C Lignin monomer content in roots of WT and HCT1/2Ri plants at R1 stage. D Root architecture of 1-month-old plants. E Comparison of crown root number (per plant) and length (cm) in 1-month-old WT and HCT1/2Ri plants. F Comparison of lateral root density (lateral roots number/1 cm main root) and length (cm) in 1-month-old WT and HCT1/2Ri plants. Values represent mean ± S.D. of three biological replicates. CWR cell wall residue. Non-identical letters in corresponding colors in the charts (B, C, E, F) indicate significant differences in analyzed trait between treatments at the 0.05 level determined by ANOVA and least significant difference (LSD) test