Plant polyphenols (syn. vegetable tannins) and chemical defense?A reappraisal

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Abstract
Many of the hypotheses adumbrated to rationalize the role of natural products in plant-herbivore interactions have focused attention on plant polyphenols (syn., vegetable tannins). Contemporary interpretations of the importance of plant polyphenols rest largely on the assumption that they act via their capacity to bind to proteins. The central proposition of plant-herbivore interactions, namely that plants, as a response to environmental pressures, have evolved the strategem of a chemical armory appropriate to the challenges they face, is examined in the context of plant polyphenols—their ability to complex to protein and their possible function as structural polymers.