Plants in the fight against Covid-19

Dr. Fernando Ponz, PI of the CBGP’s Plant Virus Biotechnology research group co-edits the Research Topic ‘Plant Science’s Contribution to Fighting Viral Pandemics: Covid-19 as a Case Study’ published in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science.

Plants historically have offered a myriad of possibilities to treat human diseases. The ability of plants to cure can be traced back to 6000 years. The enormous metabolic potential of plants has enabled the production of medicinal compounds that have served to cure or ameliorate symptoms of many diseases, many of which are still prevalent today. Today, plant biotechnology also benefits from the unique advantages of plants for the expression of proteins that can be used as therapeutics, such as vaccines.

The huge worldwide relevance of the present COVID-19 pandemics prompted the journal FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE to put together the Research Topic ‘Plant Science’s Contribution to Fighting Viral Pandemics: Covid-19 as a Case Study’, jointly edited by Dr. Ana Caño (CRAG, Barcelona, Spain), Dr. Linda Avesani (Univ. Verona, Italy), and Dr. Fernando Ponz (CBGP, Madrid, Spain. This Research Topic has reached already more than 68000 visits as of the beginning of March, 2021.