How Plants Become Chemically Diverse
Clive G. Jones
Institute of Ecosystem StudiesThe observation that potent, broad-spectrum biological activity against target organisms is infrequently found in plants led to the "screening hypothesis" that states that plants have evolved mechanisms for generating and retaining chemical diversity at low fitness costs. Because the probability of a new active chemical arising via mutation is so low, plants that generate and maintain high chemical diversity at low cost have a higher probability of remaining well-defended in the face of changing consumer communities and consumer adaptation, compared to less chemically diverse plants. Evidence is now beginning to accumulate that some of the metabolic traits predicted by the theory are present in plants (e.g., relaxed substrate specificity of some enzymes that generate chemical diversity at low cost by transforming more than one substrate). The theory is currently being expanded to encompass causes of chemical diversity in microorganisms.
Collaborator
Dr. Richard Firn, Department of Biology, University of York, UKPublications
- Firn, R. D. and Jones, C. G. 1996. An explanation of secondary product "redundancy." Rec. Adv. Phytochem. 30: 295-213.
- Jones, C. G. and Firn, R. D. 1991. On the evolution of plant secondary chemical diversity. Phil. Trans. Royal Society (London) B. 333: 273-280.
Scientific Correspondence on How Plants Become Chemically Diverse
Firn, R. D. and Jones, C. G. 1998. Bioprospecting: an explanation of its failure to live up to expectations. Nature 383: 617.More on How Plants Become Chemically Diverse
Hartley, S. E. and Jones, C. G. 1997. Plant chemistry and herbivory, or why the world is green. pp.284-324. In: Crawley, M. J. (ed.). Plant Ecology, 2nd edition. Blackwell Science Ltd., Oxford, UK.