Abstract
The chemosystematic potential of the 15 more common diterpene types in vascular plants was evaluated. Oxidation levels and skeletal specializations indicate diterpene biosynthesis to involve contrasting modes in pteridophytes and angiosperms on one hand, and in gymnosperms on the other. In angiosperm lineages diterpene diversification accompanies trends towards increase of herbaceousness and depletion of polyphenols, i.e., towards evolutionary advance. Nevertheless, even closely related families may display disjunctions of diterpene type and substitution. Thus the taxonomic value of this metabolic class remains confined to single (advanced) families.
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Part 36 in the series “Plant chemosystematics and phylogeny”. For Part 35 seeBorin & Gottlieb (1993). Based in part on the doctoral thesis presented byM. R. Figueiredo to Universidade de São Paulo in 1992.
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Figueiredo, M.R., Kaplan, M.A.C. & Gottlieb, O.R. Diterpenes, taxonomic markers?. Pl Syst Evol 195, 149–158 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00989291
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00989291