Phytochemistry. 2002 May; 60(2): 145-52.

Integration of ethnobotany and phytochemistry. dream or reality?

Gottlieb OR, Borin MR, de Brito NR.

Departamento de Fisiologia e FarmacodinÃ¢mica, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, 22051-030, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ogottlieb@abc.org.br

The major challenge of this paper comprises an attempt to compare the wealth of folk-information based on "traditional knowledge" with the efficacy of a chemo-biological background based on scientific knowledge. Surprisingly, correlations between plant uses (as food and medicine) and evolutionary status according to morphology (as assigned by Sporne indices) and metabolism (as assigned by diversity of phytochemicals) obey strikingly uniform systematic and evolutionary trends. The resulting patterns suggest a dynamic chemical mechanism for the bioactivity in plants regulated by the antagonistic gallate/caffeate pair. This finding is an important step toward the construction of a coherent chemo-biological language by a dynamic holistic quantitative methodology, one of the most potent prospects for understanding the functioning of nature.