Shamanism or science?

The interconnection of the three organismic levels, metabolism, morphology, and biogeography, can now be amplified into a multipart architecture, introducing plant bioactivity through ethnobotany-oriented descriptions. Only via such an integrative model, the diverse organismic levels can be connected within a more holistic, realistic scheme. Construction of qualitative and quantitative models via evolutionarily conceived implantation into dahlgrenograms and Sporne indices, allows ethnobotany to acquire predictive validity. The coherence of such systems was demonstrated by comparison of the vast ethnobotanical Brazilian database by Pio Corrêa with relatively very minute databases referring to three Amazonian Indian societies

Medicinal products: regulation of biosynthesis in space and time

We live in a "Demon-Haunted World". Human health care requires the ever increasing resistance of pathogens to be confronted by a correspondingly fast rate of discovery of novel antibiotics. One of the possible strategies towards this objective involves the rational localization of bioactive phytochemicals. The conceptual basis of the method consists in the surprisingly little known gearings of natural products with morphology, ecology and evolution of their plant source, i. e. an introspection into the general mechanisms of nature.

Biodiversidade: o enfoque interdisciplinar brasileiro / Biodiversity; the brazilian interdisciplinary approach

No Brasil, biodiversidade - em especial, a diversidade vegetal - é considerada importante fonte de riqueza. Inequivocamente, porém, qualquer retribuiçäo durável em benefícios sociais dependerá näo do uso da biodiversidade, mas sim de seu uso sustentável. Descriçöes regionais da fauna e da flora constituem um primeiro passo nessa direçäo. Quando utilizadas para mapeamento e quantificaçäo da biodiversidade, permitem interpretar os mecanismos de funcionamento da natureza. Sem a compreensäo desses mecanismos o "desenvolvimento sustentado" permanecerá o que é hoje: apelo político sem retribuiçäo social (Beardsley, 1994). Nossos trabalhos pretendem fornecer segura base teórica para esclarecer esse "mais maravilhoso mistério da vida, o meio pelo qual tanta diversidade surgiu de täo pouca matéria física (Wilson, 1992). Afinal, "como podemos executar a política nacional - ou até mesmo tomar decisöes inteligentes sobre nossas próprias vidas - se näo compreendemos as questöes subjacentes" (Sagan, 1996)? Trata-se de problema autenticamente brasileiro que necessita da urgente unificaçäo de esforços, porque de sua soluçäo dependem aplicaçöes práticas diretas para garantia do bem-estar socioeconômico e da saúde do povo.

Natural products research in Brazil

Natural products chemistry, at the end of the 20th century, arrived at a crossroads and it is high time that alternative options to progress be discussed. Should we consider macromolecules or micromolecules, search for novel bioactive compounds by ethnomedical or chemosystematic approaches, use natural products for educational purposes or the production of pharmaceuticals, study plants from a particular or a holistic point of view? The latter alternative leads, via the interplay of metabolism, morphology and ecogeography, to the mechanisms of evolutionary ecology. Mapping and quantification of biodiversity yields fundamental data for the interpretation of natural phenomena, the most important contribution of science toward the survival of mankind.

The rational search for natural neolignans

A rational method of search for natural neolignans of desired structures is outlined. This involves consultation of a collection of chemical profiles of plant families. The profiles are assembled considering the biosynthetic class (in the present case lignoids), subclass (neolignans), structural types (neolignan skeleta) and relative frequency of substitutional derivatives belonging to each type (known compounds). The method is of course applicable to ani class of natural products. Its use in the case of neolignans is here selected as an exemple in view of the recently discovered antagonism towards PAF of kadsurenone, a representative of this subclass of phytochemicals. Application of the chemical profiles to phylogenetic studies is illustrated.