Question:

Identify the discovered breakdown product of DNA

Show Hint

Kinetin = DNA breakdown product (Synthetic/Artifact).
Zeatin = Natural plant product (from Maize).
Remember that "Kinetin" was the very first cytokinin discovered, even though it wasn't natural to plants!
  • trans-Zeatin
  • Kinetin
  • Benzyl adenine
  • Thidiazuron
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The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Understanding the Question:
The question asks to identify a plant growth regulator (specifically a cytokinin) that was famously discovered as a degradation or breakdown product of DNA.
Detailed Explanation:

Discovery of Cytokinins:
In the 1950s, Folke Skoog and his colleagues were searching for factors that could induce cell division in tobacco pith tissue culture.

Kinetin:
Carlos Miller and Skoog found that aged or autoclaved (heated) herring sperm DNA contained a substance that strongly promoted cytokinesis (cell division).
They isolated this substance and named it Kinetin (6-furfurylaminopurine).
Kinetin is an artifact produced from the rearrangement of deoxyadenosine residues in DNA during the autoclaving process; it does not occur naturally in plants.

Analyzing other options:
trans-Zeatin: The first naturally occurring cytokinin, discovered by Letham in immature corn (Zea mays) kernels.
Benzyl adenine (BA): A synthetic cytokinin.
Thidiazuron (TDZ): A synthetic compound with strong cytokinin-like activity, used as a defoliant and in tissue culture.

Step 2: Final Answer:

Kinetin is the cytokinin that was discovered as a breakdown product of autoclaved DNA.
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