Increased understanding of metabolism of secondary plant products frequently generates sketchy and incorrect statements concerning their evolution and function.
Secondary plant products perform important functions within the complex interactions between plants and their environment, e.g. as protective agents against pathogens and herbivores, or as attractants for potential pollinators. We are all aware that the enormous diversity of these natural products resulted from evolutionary processes driven by the selection of advantageous properties. However, when these nexuses are mentioned, very often we incline to formulate 'Plants have acquired the ability to synthesize secondary plant products in order to ...' without realising that such a statement contradicts the Darwinian principles of evolution and corresponds to a Lamarckian view of teleological evolution. One of the major reasons for these automatic and unconscious misapprehensions is because of the ambiguous usage of the term 'biological function', which is very often thought to comprise an intention or a special purpose.
Selmar
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Institute for Plant Biology, Technical University Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany. d.selmar@tu-bs.de
D005075:Biological Evolution; D001695:Biology / Q000379:methods*; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena