Question

Kinetin was isolated by?
A. Skoog and Miller
B. Darwin and Lamarck
C. Boysen and Jensen
D. Went and Smit

Answer 1

Kinetin is frequently used in plant tissue culture to induce callus production (together with auxin) and to rejuvenate shoot tissues from callus with the help of lower auxin concentration.

Complete answer:
Kinetin is a cytokinin, which is a type of plant hormone that stimulates cell division. Kinetin was discovered by Carlos Miller and Skoog et al. as a cell division-promoting molecule recovered from autoclaved herring sperm DNA. It was given the name kinetin because of its capacity to stimulate cell division in the presence of auxin in the medium.

For a long time, it was thought that kinetin was an artefact formed by the deoxyadenosine residues in DNA, which break down after long periods of standing or when treated during the isolation method. As a result, it was considered that kinetin did not occur naturally; however, since 1996, multiple studies have demonstrated that kinetin appears naturally in the DNA of cells of practically all creatures investigated, including humans and other plants.

The method of kinetin formation in DNA is hypothesised to involve the creation of furfural — an oxidative degradation result of deoxyribose sugar in DNA — and its cooling by the adenine base, which converts it into N6-furfuryladenine, kinetin.

Therefore, the correct answer is option ‘A’.

Note: The method of kinetin formation in DNA is hypothesised to involve the creation of furfural — an oxidative degradation result of deoxyribose sugar in DNA — and its quenching by the adenine base, which converts it into N6-furfuryladenine, kinetin. Kinetin is also commonly employed in the tissue culture production of new plants.