Ecological arsenal and developmental dispatcher. The paradigm of secondary metabolism.

نویسنده

  • T M Kutchan
چکیده

Mankind has been exploiting plant chemicals in the form of potions and poisons for thousands of years. The attitude toward the physiological significance of this plethora of small molecules is reflected in the terminology that was assigned to them: secondary metabolites. Less flattering terms were also assigned: waste products, metabolic leftovers, and excrement. Two schools of thought concerning the function of secondary metabolites had developed into the 1970s. Prominent personalities such as Miriam Rothschild, an amateur naturalist in England, were proponents of a critical ecological function for secondary metabolites such as cardiac glycosides, cannabinoids, anthocyanins, and pyrrolizidine alkaloids. On the other side were followers of Kurt Mothes, a charismatic professor of plant biochemistry in East Germany who held the opinion that substances such as alkaloids have “no special physiological meaning” and that “many people apparently cannot live without the idea that everything in Nature has a purpose.” That being said, how far have we come since 1975?

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عنوان ژورنال:
  • Plant physiology

دوره 125 1  شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2001