Kamínek M.
JOURNAL OF PLANT GROWTH REGULATION 34: 723-739, 2015

Keywords: Cytokinins, History, Plant hormones, tRNA, Cytokinin biosynthesis, kinetin, zeatin
Abstract: Existence of compound(s) inducing cell division in excised plant tissues was spotted more than one hundred years ago. Since then research of cytokinins (CKs), plant hormones which in cooperation with other phytohormones, namely auxin, control cytokinesis and number of other physiological processes in plants, has advanced correspondingly to the progress in other fields of life sciences. This historical overview is focused on major topics of CK research including (1) discovery of CKs, (2) search for natural CKs, (3) role of CKs in transfer RNA, (4) biosynthesis (5) metabolism and (6) signalling of CK and (7) molecular probing the physiological functions of CKs. Some parts of these subjects can already be assessed within the context of an appropriate time span necessary for critical evaluation. I have used this opportunity to present also some personal recollections namely those of Prof Folke Skoog in whose laboratory the first cytokinin, kinetin, was discovered.
DOI: 10.1007/s00344-015-9543-4 IEB authors: Miroslav Kamínek