Assessing temporal flux of plant hormones in stored processing potatoes using high definition accurate mass spectrometry

Plant hormones are important molecules which at low concentration can regulate various physiological processes. Mass spectrometry has become a powerful technique for the quantification of multiple classes of plant hormones because of its high sensitivity and selectivity. We developed a new ultrahigh pressure liquid chromatography–full-scan high-definition accurate mass spectrometry method, for simultaneous determination of abscisic acid and four metabolites phaseic acid, dihydrophaseic acid, 7′-hydroxy-abscisic acid and abscisic acid glucose ester, cytokinins zeatin, zeatin riboside, gibberellins (GA1, GA3, GA4 and GA7) and indole-3-acetyl-L-aspartic acid. We measured the amount of plant hormones in the flesh and skin of two processing potato cvs. Sylvana and Russet Burbank stored for up to 30 weeks at 6 °C under ambient air conditions. Herein, we report for the first time that abscisic acid glucose ester seems to accumulate in the skin of potato tubers throughout storage time. The method achieved a lowest limit of detection of 0.22 ng g(−1) of dry weight and a limit of quantification of 0.74 ng g(−1) dry weight (zeatin riboside), and was able to recover, detect and quantify a total of 12 plant hormones spiked on flesh and skin of potato tubers. In addition, the mass accuracy for all compounds (<5 ppm) was evaluated.