ABSTRACT
The worldwide botanical and medicinal culture diversity are astonishing and constitute a Pierian spring for innovative drug R&D. Here, the latest awareness and the perspectives of pharmacophylogeny and pharmacophylogenomics, as well as their expanding utility in botanical drug R&D, are systematically summarized and highlighted. Chemotaxonomy is based on the fact that closely related plants contain the same or similar chemical profiles. Correspondingly, it is better to combine morphological characters, DNA markers and chemical markers in the inference of medicinal plant phylogeny. Medicinal plants within the same phylogenetic groups may have the same or similar therapeutic effects, thus forming the core of pharmacophylogeny. Here we systematically review and comment on the versatile applications of pharmacophylogeny in (1) looking for domestic resources of imported drugs, (2) expanding medicinal plant resources, (3) quality control, identification and expansion of herbal medicines, (4) predicting the chemical constituents or active ingredients of herbal medicine and assisting in the identification and determination of chemical constituents, (5) the search for new drugs sorting out, and (6) summarizing and improving herbal medicine experiences, etc. Such studies should be enhanced within the context of deeper investigations of molecular biology and genomics of traditional medicinal plants, phytometabolites and metabolomics, and ethnomedicine-based pharmacological activity, thus enabling the sustainable conservation and utilization of traditional medicinal resources.
ABSTRACT
The worldwide botanical and medicinal culture diversity are astonishing and constitute a Pierian spring for innovative drug R&D. Here, the latest awareness and the perspectives of pharmacophylogeny and pharmacophylogenomics, as well as their expanding utility in botanical drug R&D, are systematically summarized and highlighted. Chemotaxonomy is based on the fact that closely related plants contain the same or similar chemical profiles. Correspondingly, it is better to combine morphological characters, DNA markers and chemical markers in the inference of medicinal plant phylogeny. Medicinal plants within the same phylogenetic groups may have the same or similar therapeutic effects, thus forming the core of pharmacophylogeny. Here we systematically review and comment on the versatile applications of pharmacophylogeny in (1) looking for domestic resources of imported drugs, (2) expanding medicinal plant resources, (3) quality control, identification and expansion of herbal medicines, (4) predicting the chemical constituents or active ingredients of herbal medicine and assisting in the identification and determination of chemical constituents, (5) the search for new drugs sorting out, and (6) summarizing and improving herbal medicine experiences, etc. Such studies should be enhanced within the context of deeper investigations of molecular biology and genomics of traditional medicinal plants, phytometabolites and metabolomics, and ethnomedicine-based pharmacological activity, thus enabling the sustainable conservation and utilization of traditional medicinal resources.
ABSTRACT
Cimicifugeae is one of the rich sources for various active components and the health promoting and therapeutic values of the components have been corroborated by long-term use in folk medicine and traditional Chinese medicine. Increasing interest in Cimicifugeae pharmaceutical resources has led to the further discoveries of triterpenoid saponins, phenolic compounds, chromones, and many other compounds in various species of Cimicifugeae, and to the investigations on their chemotaxonomy, molecular phylogeny, and bioactivities. Based on our pharmacophylogenetic studies, the progress in phytochemistry, chemotaxonomy, molecular biology, and phylogeny of Cimicifugeae had been summarized since 2007, especially Cimicifuga L. ex Wernisch. and Actaea L., and their relevance to therapeutic efficacy. An exhaustive literature survey is used to characterize the global scientific effort in the phytochemical and biological studies of Cimicifugeae. More triterpenoid saponins have been found in various species, among which the cimigenol type (type A) is predominant. The versatile bioactivities of saponins and extracts, as well as those of phenolics and other ingredients, were summarized and discussed. The morphology-based five-genus classification of Cimicifugeae is not supported by molecular phylogeny. Molecular phylogeny based on nuclear and chloroplast DNA sequences tends to merge Cimicifuga Wernisch., Souliea Franch., and Actaea L. into a single genus. It is indispensable to integrate the emerging technologies into Cimicifugeae research for both the sustainable utilization of Cimicifugeae pharmaceutical resources and finding novel compounds with potential clinical utility and less adverse effects. Systems biology and omics technologies would play an increasingly important role in booming pharmaceutical research involving bioactive compounds of Cimicifugeae. © 2013 Tianjin Press of Chinese Herbal Medicines.
