Secondary Metabolite Functions
Life on earth is more or less unified in having a limited set of metabolic pathways that are used to produce primary metabolites from just a few elements: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. Secondary metabolites are constructed from primary metabolites but are more diverse and have different functions.
For each category of secondary metabolite, what are examples of specific chemicals from plants that are used medicinally? Do all the plants seem to have the same secondary metabolites or are they clustered? (e.g. , Is there an evolutionary pattern in genera, families, orders?) If there is clustering, what could this mean?
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