The Fungus Plot: How a Lab Sample Sparked a Geopolitical Thriller

Agroterrorism - or ineptitude

Imagine this: a suspense-thriller unfolding at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. The protagonists, a science-savvy couple - Yunqing Jian, a 33-year-old postdoctoral researcher at the University of Michigan, and her boyfriend, 34-year-old Zunyong Liu - step off an international flight.

The two Chinese nationals are pulled aside for routine questioning. There is something about their answers, so their bags are searched. Inside Liu’s backpack are some innocuous-looking zip‑lock bags containing red plant material.

FBI agents were unhappy about the way Liu keeps changing his answers. First, Liu claims he found this organic matter by a riverbank. but under questioning he admitted that in fact he was bringing it to the US to use in research Jian’s lab at the University of Michigan.

The FBI were having none of this and sent Liu back to China.

As anyone who has travelled to the US knows, all travellers entering the country are required to declare ‘meats, fruits, vegetables, plants, seeds, soil, animals, as well as plant and animal products (including soup or soup products) they may be carrying. The declaration must cover all items carried in checked baggage, carry-on luggage, or in a vehicle.’

So anyone who tries to beat the system is obviously a real concern - such as Kseniia Petrova, a Harvard researcher who was recently taken into custody (and subsequently released) trying to bring frog embryos into the country.

The case of Liu and Yunqing Jian (below) is far more serious.

We learned why last month, when federal prosecutors charged both Jian and Liu with conspiracy, smuggling, visa fraud, and making false statements.

That is just the tip of the iceberg.

It turns out that inside the sachets found in Liu’s bag in July 2024 was not just any plant material; in fact it was very particular fungus: Fusarium graminearum.

Also known as Gibberella zeae, Fusarium graminearum, is is not rare. But the impact of its unchecked entry into the US and its potential impact on American agriculture is hard to understate.

Fusarium graminearum already lurks across fields in the US, from the Upper Midwest to the East Coast. It can be a menace, capable of causing head blight or 'scab' on wheat, barley, oats and rice as well as stalk and ear rot disease on maize.

It has a measurable impact on US crops, costing farmers some $1 billion annually. Its notorious byproduct, vomitoxin, causes vomiting, liver damage and reproductive defects in humans and livestock. Its prevalence is monitored both carefully and warily.

Not surprisingly, the attempted clandestine import of such a dangerous a pathogen, without a permit, is extremely worrying.

In a statement, charging Jian and Liu, US Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr. called the fungus a ‘potential agroterrorism weapon.’

According to the charges, Jian’s research on Fusarium graminearum in China was government funded - something that sets off alarm bells in the US. Those were triggered too by investigations of Jian’s phone and computer that revealed ‘information describing her membership in and loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party.’

In today’s febrile environment of strained relations between the US and China, it can be tempting to make mountains out of molehills.

Those tempted to give the benefit of the doubt, however, might be interested to know that on Liu’ phone was a scientific article on ‘Plant-Pathogen Warfare under Changing Climate Conditions’.

That has left some wondering - and worrying - about biological experiments, pressure and warfare being part of a new toolkit being developed to put pressure on farmers, on local, regional and national economies and on food supply.

FBI Director Kash Patel called this case ‘sobering reminder that the CCP is working around the clock to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate American institutions and target our food supply, which would have grave consequences... putting American lives and our economy at serious risk.’

Some scholars are sceptical, pointing out that Fusarium graminearum exists in the wild to the point of being endemic - and stressing that small-scale samples cannot trigger major crises.

I spent some time when working on The Earth Transformed looking at weather modification, at bioweapons and at how agricultural fragilities play into economic and political shifts. So I know there is more of this going on than Netflix-ready cases like this.

So cue flashbacks to earlier espionage episodes - like Mo Hailong being caught pilfering seeds in Iowa; Zhang Weiqiang sneaking GM rice from a U.S. biotech firm.

Or further back in time, the Imperial Japanese Army’s infamous Unit 731 which conducted extensive field trials of biological agents in China, including anthrax, glander, and rice blast fungus to deliberate efforts to destroy paddy and wheat fields using pathogens such as Magnaporthe oryzae (rice blast) to starve populations and undermine resistance.

To thriller‑fans, this is gold: grounded in real-world science, layered with espionage, romance, academia, and a geopolitical undercurrent. It’s mixing the cerebral and the illicit - the quiet corridors of a lab one day, the hush of international diplomacy the next. A cautionary tale: virus films have Hollywood, but this is real organism-driven tension.

As the world watches the legal proceedings unfold - Jian in court, Liu still abroad - the cliff-hangers continue. There is no chance that he will be extradited to stand trial; is he standing by Jian? Why did Liu keep changing his answers when questioned: was he trying to hide something, or just scared and inept?

Will this case trigger sweeping reforms in U.S. biosecurity policies - asking travellers to tick a box on a form while coming in to land is hardly the most fool-proof way of detecting incoming problems? Will it chill foreign researchers in American labs? And will Beijing respond publicly or quietly reshape its scientific diplomacy?

We don’t yet know the final scene. But one thing is clear: the fungus smuggling saga ripples far beyond Detroit baggage claim. It strikes at the root - literally and figuratively - of national security, scientific openness, and global trust. It’s a tale begging for episodic exploration, unspooling secrets one lab record at a time. If Netflix calls, count me in for season one….

More soon.