Cross-cultural comparisons of medicinal floras—What are the implications for bioprospecting?

Gertsch, Jürg

doi:10.1016/j.jep.2011.09.017

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 27 publications

(33 reference statements)

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“…, ), mapping traditional uses and biochemical properties of plant species on phylogenetic trees could inform us on potentially new medicinal species and which lineages are particularly rich in these species. However, the relevance of phylogenetic approach in ethnomedicine has recently been questioned (Gertsch ), and the finding that biochemistry is not always phylogenetically clustered (e.g. Rønsted et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogenetic exploration of commonly used medicinal plants in South Africa

Yessoufou

Daru

Muasya

2014

Molecular Ecology Resources

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The rapid growth rate of human population, along with the public health crisis encountered in many regions, particularly in developing world, creates an urgent need for the discovery of alternative drugs. Because medicinal plants are not distributed randomly across lineages, it has been suggested that phylogeny along with traditional knowledge of plant uses can guide the identification of new medicinally useful plants. In this study, we combined different statistical approaches to test for phylogenetic signal in 33 categories of plant uses in South Africa. Depending on the null models considered, we found evidence for signal in up to 45% of plant use categories, indicating the need for multiple tests combination to maximize the chance of discovering new medicinal plants when applying a phylogenetic comparative approach. Furthermore, although there was no signal in the diversity of medicinal uses-that is, total number of medicinal uses recorded for each plant-our results indicate that taxa that are evolutionarily closely related have significantly more uses than those that are evolutionarily isolated. Our study therefore provides additional support to the body of the literature that advocates for the inclusion of phylogeny in bioscreening medicinal flora for the discovery of alternative medicines.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogenetic exploration of commonly used medicinal plants in South Africa

Yessoufou

Daru

Muasya

2014

Molecular Ecology Resources

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“…A more sophisticated approach toward bioprospecting with comparisons of medicinal floras uses reconstructed phylogenies of ethnopharmacopoeias (Saslis-Lagoudakis et al, 2012). Exactly which practical instructions for bioprospecting purposes might be obtained from cross-cultural comparisons, or the analysis of disproportionate inclusion of plant taxa in pharmacopoeias, without considering the influence of other parameters, have both been put up for discussion (Gertsch, 2012). …”

Section: Evolutionary Aspects Of Pharmacopoeias and Bioprospecting Wimentioning

confidence: 99%

Traditional medicines and globalization: current and future perspectives in ethnopharmacology

Leonti¹,

Casu²

2013

Front. Pharmacol.

166

111

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The ethnopharmacological approach toward the understanding and appraisal of traditional and herbal medicines is characterized by the inclusions of the social as well as the natural sciences. Anthropological field-observations describing the local use of nature-derived medicines are the basis for ethnopharmacological enquiries. The multidisciplinary scientific validation of indigenous drugs is of relevance to modern societies at large and helps to sustain local health care practices. Especially with respect to therapies related to aging related, chronic and infectious diseases traditional medicines offer promising alternatives to biomedicine. Bioassays applied in ethnopharmacology represent the molecular characteristics and complexities of the disease or symptoms for which an indigenous drug is used in “traditional” medicine to variable depth and extent. One-dimensional in vitro approaches rarely cope with the complexity of human diseases and ignore the concept of polypharmacological synergies. The recent focus on holistic approaches and systems biology in medicinal plant research represents the trend toward the description and the understanding of complex multi-parameter systems. Ethnopharmacopoeias are non-static cultural constructs shaped by belief and knowledge systems. Intensified globalization and economic liberalism currently accelerates the interchange between local and global pharmacopoeias via international trade, television, the World Wide Web and print media. The increased infiltration of newly generated biomedical knowledge and introduction of “foreign” medicines into local pharmacopoeias leads to syncretic developments and generates a feedback loop. While modern and post-modern cultures and knowledge systems adapt and transform the global impact, they become more relevant for ethnopharmacology. Moreover, what is traditional, alternative or complementary medicine depends on the adopted historic-cultural perspective.

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