A Chemosystematic Study of the Moraceae Family: An Analysis of the Metabolites from the Biosynthetic Mixed Pathway (Acetate/Shikimate)

The Moraceae family is a family of great importance amongst angiosperms. It consists of 37 genera and 1500 species, which are extensively distributed, and 23 genera and approximately 350 species alone have been described in Brazilian biomes. Intra-familiar classification, which is based on morphological and anatomical characteristics and on phylogenetic data, organizes the genera from the Moraceae family within the Artocarpeae, Castilleae, Dorstenieae, Ficeae and Moreae tribes. The purpose of the present study is to collaborate towards the understanding of the relationships between the genera and the tribes of this taxon by exploring chemosystematic data available for the Moraceae family, using grouping and factor analyses (CA and FA, respectively) as chemometric methods. The chemosystematic analysis was performed through a bibliographic survey of the number of occurrence of secondary metabolites isolated from the Moraceae family. Six hundred and seventy-eight papers were identified with the aid of ScIFinder, ranging from 1907 to 2014, enumerating 3728 special metabolites from this family, widely distributed within the Artocarpeae (1242), Castilleae (350), Dorstenieae (486), Ficeae (557) and Moreae (1071) tribes. According to the literature, the metabolite biogenesis in this family derives, mainly, from mixed pathways (1827), followed by the acetate (1280) and shikimate pathways (404). However, each tribe of the family shows a specific trend. For example, while the Artocarpeae and Moreae tribes prefer substances from the mixed route, the most predominant ones in the Castileae and Ficeae tribes are from the acetate pathway. The Dorstenieae tribe, on the other hand, presents a reasonable productive equity in this regard. Furthermore, the factor analysis made it possible to relate genera subordinated in the same tribe, due to their peculiarities regarding special metabolite biosynthesis and evolutionary advancement parameters of protection, oxidation and specialization. Finally, these data confirmed the advanced status of the Moraceae family in angiosperms.