Is there a biological basis in the selection of medicinal plants in the human species? An initial approach based on chemosensory perception of taste

Abstract

The ability to identify tastes associated with plant chemicals may have favored humans in identifying plant chemists with pharmacological activity throughout human evolutionary history. The genetic basis of taste perception influences people's varying sensitivity to perceive chemical stimuli of taste. This biological basis can play an important role in plant selection to compose local medical systems, given the argument in the ethnobiological literature that plant taste can influence their selection as a medicinal resource. Thus, we aimed to understand whether this biological basis influences on the selection of medicinal plants. Our investigation was made through the survey of ethnobiological data on the knowledge of medicinal plants and sensitivity data on the perception of bitter taste in two local communities. We tested whether local experts and active experimenters of medicinal plants are more sensitive to the perception of bitter taste than the rest of the population. Additionally, we evaluated whether this biological basis influences on the number of citations of plants with taste and on the versatility attributed to medicinal plants. Our assumptions were not corroborated by our results. It is likely that the bitter taste threshold is not relevant for the selection of medicinal plants.