Laboratory of Functional Ecology, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland;
Landscape Ecology, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, Department of Environmental System Science, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Jan 19;118(3). doi: 10.1073/pnas.2013344118.
To cope with environmental challenges, plants produce a wide diversity of phytochemicals, which are also the source of numerous medicines. Despite decades of research in chemical ecology, we still lack an understanding of the organization of plant chemical diversity across species and ecosystems. To address this challenge, we hypothesized that molecular diversity is not only related to species diversity, but also constrained by trophic, climatic, and topographical factors. We screened the metabolome of 416 vascular plant species encompassing the entire alpine elevation range and four alpine bioclimatic regions in order to characterize their phytochemical diversity. We show that by coupling phylogenetic information, topographic, edaphic, and climatic variables, we predict phytochemical diversity, and its inherent composition, of plant communities throughout landscape. Spatial mapping of phytochemical diversity further revealed that plant assemblages found in low to midelevation habitats, with more alkaline soils, possessed greater phytochemical diversity, whereas alpine habitats possessed higher phytochemical endemism. Altogether, we present a general tool that can be used for predicting hotspots of phytochemical diversity in the landscape, independently of plant species taxonomic identity. Such an approach offers promising perspectives in both drug discovery programs and conservation efforts worldwide.
为了应对环境挑战，植物产生了多种多样的植物化学物质，这些物质也是许多药物的来源。尽管在化学生态学领域进行了数十年的研究，但我们仍然缺乏对物种和生态系统中植物化学多样性的组织的理解。为了解决这一挑战，我们假设分子多样性不仅与物种多样性有关，而且还受到营养、气候和地形因素的限制。我们筛选了 416 种维管植物的代谢组，这些植物涵盖了整个高山海拔范围和四个高山生物气候区，以描述它们的植物化学多样性。我们表明，通过将系统发育信息、地形、土壤和气候变量相结合，我们可以预测整个景观中植物群落的植物化学多样性及其内在组成。植物化学多样性的空间制图进一步表明，在低海拔到中海拔生境中发现的植物组合，土壤碱性更强，具有更大的植物化学多样性，而高山生境则具有更高的植物化学特有性。总之，我们提出了一种通用工具，可以用于预测景观中植物化学多样性的热点，而不考虑植物物种的分类身份。这种方法在药物发现计划和全球保护工作中都具有广阔的前景。
