Phylogeny predicts chemical diversity and potential medicinal activity of plants: evidence from Amaryllidaceae
Nina Rønsted, Associate Professor
Botanical Garden and Museum, Natural History Museum of Denmark
During evolution, plants and other organisms have developed a diversity of chemical defence lines, leading to the evolution of various groups of specialized metabolites selected for their endogenous biological function. A correlation between phylogeny and biosynthetic pathways could offer a predictive approach enabling more efficient selection of plants for traditional medicine and lead discovery. However, this relationship has rarely been rigorously tested and the potential predictive power is consequently unknown.
We produced the largest ever phylogenetic hypothesis for the medicinally important plant subfamily Amaryllidoideae (Amaryllidaceae) based on parsimony and bayesian analysis of nuclear, plastid and mitochondrial DNA sequences of over 100 species. We tested if alkaloid diversity and central nervous system related activities are significantly correlated with phylogeny.
Several genera are non-monophyletic emphasizing the importance of using phylogeny for interpretation of character distribution. Alkaloid diversity and in vitro central nervous system related activity are significantly correlated with phylogeny. This has implications for the use of phylogenies to interpret chemical evolution and biosynthetic pathways, to select candidate taxa for lead discovery, and to make recommendations for traditional use and conservation priorities.
