CHEMOTAXONOMY

PAPER 2 UNIT IV

Name: Samruddhi S. Patil

Roll No. 13
Class : M.Sc.(Part 1)
The Institute of Science,
Mumbai
WHAT IS TAXONOMY?
 Taxonomy is the
science of naming,
describing and
classifying
organisms
 Scientific study of
how living things
are classified
 includes all plants,
animals and
microorganisms
HOW IS TAXONOMY USEFUL?
Once an organism is classified,
you determine what the
characteristics of the organism
are based on other organisms
found in the same classification
BRANCHES OF TAXONOMY
 Cytotaxonomy

based on information provided by

comparative cytological studies, number of
chromosomes, structure and meiotic
behaviour of chromosomes.
e.g. 12 chromosomes in Solanum species
and 9 in Chrysanthemum species.
 Numerical Taxonomy

it is a system of grouping of species by

numerical methods based in their
character states.
 Chemotaxonomy
based on characteristics of various
chemical constituents of organisms
like amino acids, proteins, DNA
sequences, alkaloids, crystals,
betacyanins, etc.
 Cladistics Taxonomy
It searches similarity due to
common phylogeny or origin from a
common ancestor.
WHAT IS CHEMOTAXONOMY?

C hemical features of plants are used

in developing classification
 for solving taxonomic problems
 Also called Chemosystematics/
Chemical Taxonomy/ Chemical Plant
Taxonomy/ Plant Chemotaxonomy
 Basic chemical features include
alkaloids, flavonoids,
carotenoids, terpenoids, fatty
acids, amino acids etc.
HISTORY
 Merriam-Webster defines chemotaxonomy
 Modern phase of chemotaxonomy began
with work of Abbott(1886) in Botanical
Gazzette
 Books providing details of
Chemotaxonomy are by Hawkes (1968),
Swain (1973),Gibbs (1974), Young and
Srigler (1981), Harborne and Turner
(1984).
 The Institute for Pharmakognosie of the
University of Kiel, Germany
CHEMICAL CHARACTERS AND THEIR
USES IN TAXONOMY

 No suitable classification of the

chemical characters and their use in
taxonomy is developed so far.
 Naik in 1984 divided these characters
into three categories,
(i) Directly visible characters e.g. Starch
grains, silica gypsum, etc.
(ii) Chemical test characters e.g.
Phenolics, betalains, oils, fats, waxes,
alkaloids, etc.
(iii) Proteins.
On the other hand Jones and Luchsinger
(1987) divided these characters on the
basis of their molecular weight,
1. Low molecular weight compounds i.e
micromolecules (MW is 1000 or less)
e.g. amino acids, alkaloids, fatty acids,
terpenoids, flavonoids
2. High molecular weight compounds
i.e macromolecules (MW is over1000)
e.g. proteins, DNA, RNA etc
 Flavonoids

 Most widely and effectively used

compounds
 phenolic glycosides consisting of the two
benzene ring linked together through a
heterocyclic pyrane ring
 distribution, chemical complexity, the
relative physiological stability.
 e.g : Presence of five leaf flavonoids
(tricin, luteolin, glycosyl flavones,
bisulphate complex and 5-glucoside) in
both Gramineae and Palmae,link them
together.
 Betalains
 Differfrom flavonoids and other
phenolic compounds
 Nitrogenous Anthocyanins
 Betalains are present in family
Cactaceae.
 Terpenoids
 Extensively used in chemotaxonomy
of Mints,Umbellifers, Citrus plant
 Isoprenoids
 Mirov (1961) used in gum
terpentines in the taxonomy of Pinus
 Alkaloids
 Basic nitrogen containing compound
with heterocyclic ring
 Produced by organisms including
bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals.
 families are rich in alkaloidal species,
such as Berberidaceae, Leguminosae,
Solanaceae, Rutaceae, Rubiaceae,
Compositae, Liliaceae and Orchidaceae
 Legumes are rich in lupin.
 Rubiaceae is rich in quinoline alkaloids
 e.g. Alstonia scholaris , Rauwolfia
serpentina
 Amino acids
 Building blocks of proteins and
universally distributed in plant
tissues.
 e.g. Lathyrus sp. grouped in 7
infrageneric groups on the basis of
association of amino acids within the
seeds.
 Acaica can be recognised easily on
the basis of amino acid contents of
their seeds.
 Lipids and waxes
 Contain free alcohols, fatty acids,

aldehydes, ketones
 e.g. proportions of fatty acids in lipids are
constant in both genera and species in
Palmae
 Proteins

 used in chemotaxonomy because of their

large complex molecules, universal
distribution, presence in large quantity in
some organisms
 Establishing close relationship between
Vicia sativus and Lathyrus sativus
REFERENCE
 Webliography
 https://bioinformaticsreview.com/20160225/what-is-
numerical-taxonomy-how-it-works/
 http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/947
20/13/13_chapter%205.pdf
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/03051
97885900833
 http://www.answers.com/Q/Applications_of_chemotax
onomy
 http://www.biologydiscussion.com/living-
organism/taxonomy-living-organism/branches-of-
taxonomy-4-branches/44591
 Bibliography
 Plant Taxonomy by O.P. Sharma page no. 95-101
THANK YOU