Explain the process of chemotaxonomy.
Answers
Answer:
The occurrence and distribution of the various types of chemical substances present in plants prove to be of taxonomic significance. However, it should be noted that, all kinds of chemical substances present in plants do not reveal information useful to the taxonomist. Phytochemical characters of taxonomic significance have been classified into three types.
These include:
a. Primary constituents:
These include the macromolecular compounds directly taking part in metabolism and include proteins, nucleic acids, chlorophyll and polysaccharides. All chemical materials synthesized by an organism reflect the information in DNA, RNA and proteins. These latter molecules have been termed as semantides. Semantides, thus contain useful information of taxonomy and phylogeny.
b. Secondary constituents :
They include compounds lacking nitrogen and not involved directly in plant metabolism i.e., simple phenolic compounds like caffeic, benzoic and nicotinic acids and polyphenolic compounds like flavonoids, terpenes, coumarines, alkaloids and pigments of which flavonoids are most widely studied with respect to plant systematics.
c. Miscellaneous substances:
However, no suitable classification of the chemical characters and their use in taxonomy is developed so far. On the basis of their molecular weight, Jones and Luchsinger (1987) has divided the natural chemical plant products useful in taxonomy, into two major groups.
Answer:
It is the branch of biology that deals with the similarities and dissimilarities in chemical constituent