Positive Health Online

Abstract

DAVID and CHOISY (1)Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University Herbaria, 22 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. cdavis@oeb.harvard.edu ; (2)LVMH Research, 185 Avenue de Verdun, 45804 Saint Jean de Braye CEDEX, France conduct a review arguing that an interdisciplinary approach to the study of medicinal plants – evolutionary ecology, molecular biology/biochemistry, and ethnopharmacology – is poised to facilitate new breakthroughs in science, including pharmacological discoveries and rapid advancements in human health and well-being.

Background

Plants have been an essential source of human medicine for millennia. In this review, we argue that a holistic, interdisciplinary approach to the study of medicinal plants that combines methods and insights from three key disciplines – evolutionary ecology, molecular biology/biochemistry, and ethnopharmacology – is poised to facilitate new breakthroughs in science, including pharmacological discoveries and rapid advancements in human health and well-being.

Methodology

Such interdisciplinary research leverages data and methods spanning space, time, and species associated with medicinal plant species evolution, ecology, genomics, and metabolomic trait diversity, all of which build heavily on traditional Indigenous knowledge. Such an interdisciplinary approach contrasts sharply with most well-funded and successful medicinal plant research during the last half-century, which, despite notable advancements, has greatly oversimplified the dynamic relationships between plants and humans, kept hidden the larger human narratives about these relationships, and overlooked potentially important research and discoveries into life-saving medicines.

Results

We suggest that medicinal plants and people should be viewed as partners whose relationship involves a complicated and poorly explored set of (socio-)ecological interactions including not only domestication but also commensalisms and mutualisms.

Conclusion

In short, medicinal plant species are not just chemical factories for extraction and exploitation. Rather, they may be symbiotic partners that have shaped modern societies, improved human health, and extended human lifespans. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Conflict of interest statement: Declaration of interests The authors declare that they are supported by LVMH Research for Dior Science, a company involved in the research and development of cosmetic products based on floral extracts.

References

Davis CC(1), Choisy P(2). Medicinal plants meet modern biodiversity science. Curr Biol.  ;34(4):R158-R173. Feb 26 2024. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.12.038.