The Plant Press

The importance of genomics in preventing pandemics

From Plant Press, Vol. 23, No. 3, July 2020.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a major impact on human health and the global economy this year. To address future pandemics, scientists from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), University of California at Davis (UCD), and University of Guelph (UG) recently wrote an opinion piece about the importance of genomics in facilitating preemptive strikes and developing rapid responses to global outbreaks to come. The commentary appears in the June 23, 2020 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (117: 13852-13855; http://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2009508117). In the article, authors W. John Kress (NMNH), Jonna Mazet (UCD), and Paul Hebert (UG) argue for the establishment of a global, genomic-based biosurveillance platform to detect pathogens that pose a threat to humans and other species. Such a “pandemic interception system,” they explain, would be of immense value to saving lives as well as global biosecurity, biodefense, and the world’s economy.

Chestnut blight caused by the fungus Cryphonectria parasitica devastated the American Chestnut tree more than a century ago. Photo by Joseph OBrien, USDA Forest Service / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)

The authors discuss in detail how three major global research programs are ready to lead the way in supporting this platform: BIOSCAN (directed by Hebert), the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP; co-chaired by Kress), and the Global Virome Project (GVP; lead by Mazet). These global programs, which are currently developing approaches in comparative genomics, aim to be able to detect all pathogens hosted by birds and mammals that can be transferred to humans. But beyond protecting our own species, the authors stress that protecting other species is just as important in maintaining a healthy planet. Viruses and fungal pathogens have caused similar pandemics in cattle, amphibians, bats, honeybees, and many species of trees.

By understanding the causes and processes behind pathogen transfers, a biosurveillance platform can work proactively to prevent future infections. Kress, Mazet, and Herbert write, “now is the time to use the full power of science through cooperative efforts among initiatives such as BIOSCAN, GVP, and EBP to advance our understanding of the complex web of interactions that span the domains of life.”

ForestGEO network adapts in response to COVID-induced changes

From Plant Press, Vol. 23, No. 3, July 2020.

On March 11, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak a global pandemic. Since then, daily life around the world has drastically changed, and physical distancing, face masks, and a surge in teleworking have become a way of life for many. Fieldwork at Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO) sites around the world has been severely impacted, with many unique long-term monitoring projects on hold. Decades-long studies of flowering and fruiting patterns of trees, foraging behavior of primates, dynamics of insect populations, and the 40-year census of the Barro Colorado Island (BCI) plot are now stopped. These interruptions are going to have lasting effects on our ability to understand how the world's forests are responding as climate changes. Alongside the disappointment and uncertainty that COVID-19 has introduced, a spirit of flexibility, a willingness to adapt and rise to the occasion wherever possible, has also emerged. Below, ForestGEO staff share how members within the ForestGEO network have found opportunities amid the disruption.

Cliffson Idigel and Joseph Kua, field crew members at the Wanang 50-ha plot (photo from Wanang’s first census). (photo by George Weiblen)

Although physical distancing precludes field crews from embarking upon Wanang’s third census, colleagues at ForestGEO's partner institution, the New Guinea Binatang Research Center, have been able to continue with research throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Vojtech Novotny, a principal investigator (PI) of the Wanang plot in Papua New Guinea, frames travel restrictions and their fallout on scientific research “as a test on the rhetoric of ‘capacity building’ within tropical countries,” noting that “if a sudden interruption of international travel causes tropical research to stop, then it is a sign that the capacity building has not been really robust.”

A DC teenager’s 1917-1919 herbarium

From Plant Press, Vol. 23, No. 3, July 2020.

By Erika Gardner

Helen Barron was 13 years old in 1917 when she started pressing and preserving plants creating her personal herbarium. As the Spanish Flu was sweeping through her hometown of Washington, D.C., Barron found solace in Rock Creek Park and surrounding areas of the district by collecting plant specimens. Barron continued collecting plants in the Washington, D.C. region until 1919. Nearly a century later, in 2013, Mary Clagett Horm, Barron’s daughter, donated Barron’s two herbarium books, Spring Flowers 1917-1918 and Spring Flowers 1919, to the US National Herbarium. Upon accepting these collections, we were unaware of their historical significance. Little did we know, in about seven years, all of our lives would be put on hold and we too would be living during a global pandemic.

Helen Barron’s herbarium book, Spring Flowers-1919. A hand drawn dogwood graces the cover. (photo by Sue Lutz)

These books were placed on a shelf in the specimen preparation room along with other pressed plant books. Very seldom would we handle these books unless we were showcasing them for a tour. Sitting in my home office, I could not help but think about which specimens in the US herbarium were made during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. In an instant, the images of Barron’s books came to mind. I could see the hand drawn dogwood on the periwinkle-colored cover and the date 1919 written in black ink. I asked Sue Lutz, the Collection Manager, to gain access to these books and take a few photos to share. The plants are beautifully pressed and presented on each page. It is extraordinary to imagine a teenager collecting and pressing these specimens during a time when her world was also turned up-side down.

By the numbers: Pandemic edition

From Plant Press, Vol. 23, No. 3, July 2020.

The staff of the Department of Botany is making a strong push to make the U.S. National Herbarium’s collection of over 5 million specimens available online. The Botany Specimen Catalog is available at https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/search/botany/?ti=2. During the current pandemic with staff sequestered in their homes, work continues to accomplish the goals of a fully accessible catalog of specimens. Notable numbers and figures include:

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The number of collections and information technology staff and contractors from the Botany Department dedicated to cleaning up catalog records.

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560,000

The number of EMu specimen records corrected and amended during the first three months of the pandemic
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260,000

The number of new specimen images added to museum’s database since March 2020.

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4,000

The approximate daily average number of public queries to the Botany Specimen Catalog during the spring months of 2020.

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https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/search/botany/?ti=2