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Published:May 19, 2020 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molp.2020.05.014
As I write this commentary in late April 2020, the world is scrambling to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19, short for Coronavirus disease 2019, is an infectious disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Globally, more than 3 million people have been infected by COVID-19 and over 200 000 people have died of this disease. Normal lives of billions of people around the world are disrupted. The global economic loss is incalculable. Where I am (Massachusetts, USA), universities have closed down since mid-March. Most researchers were sent to work from home, which means in-person lab research has to be abruptly halted. The COVID-19 pandemic ruthlessly deprives us of some of the very basic activities that we take for granted living in a modern society, such as going to work, eating out with friends, and attending social gatherings. As painful as it is, COVID-19 also serves as a wake-up call that reminds us how fragile our society still is when challenged by a pandemic, and much is to be learned about infectious diseases because we still lack effective ways to eradicate them.
Here, I reflect on the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of plant science. First, plants have served as the main source of medicine for humans since the beginning of our species. Some of the earliest modern medicines are indeed plant natural products for treating infectious diseases. Plants have a lot to offer for treating COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, but it will require interdisciplinary research efforts to fully realize this potential. Second, the countermeasures that were quickly deployed against COVID-19 this time, including disease detection and potential treatments, are resulted from previous science and technology development in broad disciplines. This strongly advocates for not just maintaining but significantly increasing societal funding into basic sciences, including plant science, in order to better prepare us for future pandemics and other societal challenges. Last but not least, the global COVID-19 crisis has exposed several weaknesses of human nature, and in many ways echoes other looming crises, such as climate change and food insecurity. Plant science could contribute to the solutions of these problems, but such effort needs to be integrated into a global grand strategy yet to be established.
Medicine
