Quantitative changes of free-base,riboside, ribotide and glucoside cytokinins in developing rice grains

Rice grains at various growth stages were analysed for endogenous free-base, riboside, ribotide and glucoside cytokinins on the basis of GC/MS and GC/SIM using deuterium-labeled internal standards. Cytokinins identified were trans- and cis-zeatins, trans- and cis-ribosylzeatins, isopentenyladenosine, isopentenyladenosine monophosphate, trans- and cis-ribosylzeatin monophosphates, trans- and cis-zeatin-O-glucosides, trans- and cis-ribosylzeatin-O-glucosides and zeatin-9-glucoside (trans/cis geometry was not determined). The highest amounts of cytokinins were recorded at the early growth stage, namely either heading, anthesis or milk stage, suggesting that cytokinins may play important roles in the development of the grain. Cis isomers of zeatin derivatives were always present and more abundant than trans isomers. It seemed unlikely that cis isomers were released from t-RNAs during the extraction procedure.