Cathie Martin

Wansheng Chen

Xiaoya Chen

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 Open Access https://doi.org/10.48130/MPB-2022-0001Medicinal Plant Biology 2022, 1:1Medicinal Plant Biology: A new era for medicinal plant researchXiaoya Chen1*, Cathie Martin2*, and Wansheng Chen3*1 Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China2 John Innes Centre, Norwich NR4 7UH, UK3 Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China* Corresponding authors, E-mail: xychen@cemps.ac.cn; Cathie.Martin@jic.ac.uk; chenwansheng@shutcm.edu.cn Plants  are  amazing  chemical  factories,  and  medicinal  plantsprovide  a  myriad  of  pharmaceutically  active  compounds  thathave  been  commonly  used  as  traditional  medicines  forthousands  of  years.  The  practice  of  traditional  medicine  inChina dates back at least 4,500 years.  The Shen Nong Ben CaoJing  ("Shen  Nong's  Herbal  Classic"  in  770−475  BC)  has  beenconsidered  the  oldest  list  of  medicinal  plants.  Recent  rapideconomic  development  has  enabled  China  to  invest  substan-tially  in  science  and  technology  research.  In  many  ethnicgroups  worldwide,  herbal  medicines  are,  in  the  same  way  astraditional  Chinese  medicines,  still  commonly  used  today.  Awide  array  of  plant-extract  health  supplements  has  becomeincreasingly  popular  in  Western  societies.  Numerous  drugsderived  from  a  broad  range  of  plant  species  have  beendiscoveried, such as taxol and artemisinin and their derivatives.Investigations  of  the  chemotaxonomy,  molecular  phylogeny,and  pharmacology  of  these  diverse  plants  and  derived  com-pounds  through  molecular  biology  and  omics-based  techni-ques have led to a new frontier of medicinal plant research, i.e.,Medicinal Plant Biology. For example, improvements in sequen-cing technology—with drastically reduced costs—have offeredunpresidented  access  to  genomic,  transcriptomic,  proteomicand  metabolomic  information  for  large  numbers  of  medicinalplants. The massive amount of new data will surely lead to newdiscoveries in plant-derived medicine. This has been witnessedby  a  substantial  increase  in  MPB-related  research  papers.  Thetime  is  clearly  right  to  initiate  an  international  journal  withfocus on the biology of these specific groups of plants, and it isour  great  honor  to  announce  the  launch  of Medicinal  PlantBiology (MPB) with the aims of filling the gap and meeting theneed for publications of the highest standards in this field. Weaim  to  build  MPB  into  a  flagship  journal,  publishing  leadingresearch,  which  will  have  a  profound  impact  on  the  field  ofmedicinal plants, not only in the advance of science but also inproviding  a  venue  for  international  scholarly  exchange.  Toensure that  MPB attracts  high-quality  publications,  the journalwill  be guided by a distinguished Advisory Board consisting ofpreeminent, world-class scholars in the field and will be editedby  a  distinguished  international  Editorial  Board  comprised  ofoutstanding front-line researchers. All papers will be subjectedto rigorous peer review, and accepted papers will be publishedonline immediately  with free access  and global  dissemination.We  sincerely  hope  that  you  will  help  the  journal  excel  bysubmitting  your  excellent  research  and  review  articles,  byserving  as  reviewers,  and  by  becoming  frequent  readers  ofMPB.On  behalf  of  the  journal's  distinguished  Editorial  Board  andthe publisher,  Maximum Academic Press,  we warmly welcomeyou to visit the MPB webpage (www.maxapress.com/mpb) andread the incoming articles of high quality and impact.Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.DatesReceived  6  January  2022;  Accepted  10  January  2022;Published online 14 January 2022Copyright:  © 2022 by the author(s).  Published byMaximum  Academic  Press,  Fayetteville,  GA.  Thisarticle  is  an  open  access  article  distributed  under  CreativeCommons  Attribution  License  (CC  BY  4.0),  visit https://creative-commons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.EDITORIAL © The Author(s)www.maxapress.com/mpbwww.maxapress.com

Medicinal Plant Biology: A new era for medicinal plant research

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Medicinal Plant Biology: A new era for medicinal plant research

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