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Sampling a diverse flora for novel biochemicals: An analysis of NCI collections from Madagascar

Echantillonage d’une flore diverse pour des nouveaux composes biochimiques: Une Analyze des Collections de NCI Recoltees a Madagascar

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Abstract

An analysis of the taxonomic composition of 6,496 samples of plants collected for the National Cancer Institute is conducted and the results are presented. The results show that collecting has been highly biased towards woody plant families, as these species are often abundant, they yield samples of multiple parts, and it is often easy to collect sufficient material for isolation of chemicals present in low concentration. Conversely, herbaceous plants that are small or grow in sparse populations are underrepresented in collections. Three of the ten generically most diverse families in Madagascar have not been sampled, and of these ten families, only Rubiaceae and Euphorbiaceae have had greater numbers of samples collected than predicted if collecting was random. The causes of this bias are discussed, and solutions to ensure that bioprospecting efforts gather samples reflective of the diversity present are presented.

Zusammenfassung

Une analyze de la composition taxonomique de 6496 échantillons recoltés pour le National Cancer Institute est conduite et les resultants obtenus montrent que la récolte a été foretment biaisée, tendant pour une forte proportion des families des plantes ligneuses don’t les espèces sont souvent abondantes, peuvent fournir plusieurs sortes d’échantillon et souvent permettent facilement de collecter suffisament des matérielles pour l’isolation des composes chimiques presents à faible concentration. Contrairement, les plantes herbacées que sont de petites tailles our qui poussent avec des populations clairsemées sont sous representées dans les collections. Trois parmi les dix families génériquement les plus diversifies n’ont pas été recoltées, et de ces dix families, seules les Rubiaceae el les Euphorbiaceae ont eu les plus grands nombres d’échantillons que prévus si la récolte a été fait au hazard. Les cause de cette disproportion sont discutées et les solutions pour assurer que les efforts de bioprospection rassemblent des échantillons reflétant la diversité présente sont presentées.

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Correspondence to James S. Miller.

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Miller, J.S., Bradley, A., Randrianasolo, A. et al. Sampling a diverse flora for novel biochemicals: An analysis of NCI collections from Madagascar. Econ Bot 59, 221–230 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1663/0013-0001(2005)059[0221:SADFFN]2.0.CO;2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1663/0013-0001(2005)059[0221:SADFFN]2.0.CO;2

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