Chapter 30.4, Problem 2CC

Summary Introduction

To determine: The importance of phylogeny in deducing the novel medicines from seed plants.

Concept introduction: Phylogeny depicts the evolutionary relationship among a group of organisms. It describes how a group of organisms evolved with the time. The relationship among a group of organisms is depicted through a phylogenetic tree. The phylogeny can be deduced using either the DNA sequence or morphology.

There are various terms used in study of phylogenetic tree namely monophyletic, paraphyletic and polyphyletic. The monophyletic taxon refers to a clade that contains all the descendants of a common ancestor. A paraphyletic clade contains descendants from a common ancestor but not all the descendents. On the other hand, the polyphyletic is a clade that contains descendants from more than one common ancestor.