Abstract
The medicinal properties of plants can be evolutionarily predicted by phylogeny-based methods, which, however, have not been used to explore the regularity of therapeutic effects of Chinese plants utilized by ethnic minorities. This study aims at exploring the distribution law of therapeutic efficacy of Ranunculales plants on the phylogenetic tree of Chinese species. We collected therapeutic efficacy data of 551 ethnomedicinal species belonging to five species-rich families of Ranunculales; these therapeutic data were divided into 15 categories according to the impacted tissues and organs. The phylogenetic tree of angiosperm species was used to analyze the phylogenetic signals of ethnomedicinal plants by calculating the net relatedness index (NRI) and nearest taxon index (NTI) in R language. The NRI results revealed a clustered structure for eight medicinal categories (poisoning/intoxication, circulatory, gastrointestinal, eyesight, oral, pediatric, skin, and urinary disorders) and overdispersion for the remaining seven (neurological, general, hepatobiliary, musculoskeletal, otolaryngologic, reproductive, and respiratory disorders), while the NTI metric identified the clustered structure for all. Statistically, NRI and NTI values were significant in 5 and 11 categories, respectively. It was found that Mahonia eurybracteata has therapeutic effects on all categories. iTOL was used to visualize the distribution of treatment efficacy on species phylogenetic trees. By figuring out the distribution of therapeutic effects of Ranunculales medicinal plants, the importance of phylogenetic methods in finding potential medicinal resources is highlighted; NRI, NTI, and similar indices can be calculated to help find taxonomic groups with medicinal efficacy based on the phylogenetic tree of flora in different geographic regions.
Highlights
Academic Editor: Jelena Zivkovic e medicinal properties of plants can be evolutionarily predicted by phylogeny-based methods, which, have not been used to explore the regularity of therapeutic effects of Chinese plants utilized by ethnic minorities. is study aims at exploring the distribution law of therapeutic efficacy of Ranunculales plants on the phylogenetic tree of Chinese species
We collected therapeutic efficacy data of 551 ethnomedicinal species belonging to five species-rich families of Ranunculales; these therapeutic data were divided into 15 categories according to the impacted tissues and organs. e phylogenetic tree of angiosperm species was used to analyze the phylogenetic signals of ethnomedicinal plants by calculating the net relatedness index (NRI) and nearest taxon index (NTI) in R language. e NRI results revealed a clustered structure for eight medicinal categories and overdispersion for the remaining seven, while the NTI metric identified the clustered structure for all
Statistics and Calculation of Phylogenetic Distribution. e NRI was used to quantify the mean pairwise phylogenetic distance (MPD) of ethnomedicinal plants [10], which designates the dispersion of medicinal uses toward the root of phylogeny. e NTI is a standardized index to measure the average phylogenetic distance between each sample and its nearest taxon, which can be used to calculate the mean nearest taxon distance (MNTD); NTI describes the dispersion of medicinal uses toward the tips of phylogeny [9]
Summary
Academic Editor: Jelena Zivkovic e medicinal properties of plants can be evolutionarily predicted by phylogeny-based methods, which, have not been used to explore the regularity of therapeutic effects of Chinese plants utilized by ethnic minorities. is study aims at exploring the distribution law of therapeutic efficacy of Ranunculales plants on the phylogenetic tree of Chinese species. Is study aims at exploring the distribution law of therapeutic efficacy of Ranunculales plants on the phylogenetic tree of Chinese species. By figuring out the distribution of therapeutic effects of Ranunculales medicinal plants, the importance of phylogenetic methods in finding potential medicinal resources is highlighted; NRI, NTI, and similar indices can be calculated to help find taxonomic groups with medicinal efficacy based on the phylogenetic tree of flora in different geographic regions. Most of the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and ethnomedicine/folk medicine are from angiosperms, but the quantitative study exploring the association between Chinese angiosperm phylogeny and various therapeutic effects of phytomedicine is rare [5, 6], and the Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine traditional medicinal knowledge of China ethnic minorities has not been elaborated within the context of plant phylogeny. Erefore, taking the order Ranunculales as a representative, we aim at studying the distribution pattern of Chinese ethnomedicinal plants on the phylogenetic tree by combining the species phylogenetic tree of Chinese angiosperms and therapeutic data of ethnomedicinal plants at the species level
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