Since their discovery in the 1950s, it has been established that cytokinins (CKs) play important regulatory roles in various physiological processes in plants. Only recently have CKs been also implicated in the response of plants to biotic and abiotic stresses. During the last years, several analytical methods have been developed to determine CK concentrations in plant tissues. Here we present a simple and robust method for CK extraction, purification and analysis in plant tissues, using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry (U-HPLC-HRMS). The main advantage of this methodology is the simplicity of the purification protocol and the possibility to extend it to the analysis of other plant hormones and derivatives.
Keywords: Abiotic stress; Cytokinins; High-resolution mass spectrometry; Internal standards; Plant hormones; Quantification.