Japanese scientists have genetically engineered a chrysanthemum flower that is " true blue" — a color that has long eluded flower breeders and
Japanese scientists have genetically engineered a chrysanthemum flower that is « true blue » — a color that has long eluded flower breeders and researchers.
Blue has proved a challenge to produce in many other popular flowers, including roses, carnations and lilies.
It hasn’t happened until now in chrysanthemums due to the « recalcitrant and unpredictable expression of introduced genes, » Naonobu Noda from Japan’s National Agriculture and Food Research Organization tells The Two-Way. Noda is the lead author of the paper released today in Science Advances.
When scientists tried previously to introduce genes to create a blue color, Noda said, the flower would « shut them off by as yet unknown mechanisms. » Other attempts produced violet flowers, not blue ones.
The researchers then took genes from two very blue flowers — butterfly peas and Canterbury bells — and snuck them into the chrysanthemum.
Those two genes modified the chrysanthemums’ natural pigment to create a colorful molecule called delphinidin.
