A flower is one of nature’s most beautiful creations — but gene engineers think they can make it even better.
For the first time, Japanese researchers have turned chrysanthemums’ naturally pink or red booms into true blue — an unattainable holy grail of the flower world.
The team, which announced its success on Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, engineered chrysanthemums by inserting genes that stimulate the synthesis of blue pigment from two other blue-flowering plants: butterfly peas and Canterbury bells.
Despite great effort, conventional breeding techniques haven’t yielded blue chrysanthemums, according to Naonobu Noda and colleagues of the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization and biotech company Suntory, a leading consumer product company, which has invested billions of yen in the creation of blue flowers since 1990.
Chrysanthemums lack the gene to produce blue pigments. Other chrysanthemum colors — white, yellow, orange, red, magenta and even green — have been created through tedious interbreeding and hybridization. But blue? The closest researchers could get was purple-tinged petals.
Japanese researchers previously created and commercialized other genetically altered blue flowers, such as carnations and roses. But a blue blossom proved tougher.
“The blue color was thought to be impossible,” said Jeff MacDonald, president of the Bay Area Chrysanthemum Society. “We need to thank the people who work hard to produce such elusive beautiful chrysanthemum.”
There were two technical barriers that had to be solved to produce blue flowers, according to researchers. One was to isolate the genes necessary to synthesize a blue pigment from among tens of thousands of genes contained in other types of blue flowers. The other was to develop the methods to introduce these genes to cells of chrysanthemums, roses and carnations — and then produce genetically-modified blossoms from these cells.
The authors say the discovery may lead to production of even more varieties of blue flowers, and further note that their two-step gene insertion method could help overcome the challenges associated with other techniques.
It’s the latest in a growing list of plants designed to appeal to consumers for their aesthetics or novelty.
Also under development: fragrant moss, glow-in-the-dark plants, hyper-fragrant blossoms and flowers that don’t wilt. A Colorado company is working to engineer petunias that change colors throughout the day — from pink to blue and back to pink again, over 12 hours.
This trend is likely to become more common, according to a recent National Academy of Sciences report, which urges U.S. regulatory agencies to prepare for the new plants, animals and microbes that will soon be entering the market.
Because these products are not dangerous to humans, no regulatory approval is currently required. The National Academy of Sciences urged the federal government to develop and implement a long-term strategy for risk analysis of future biotechnology products — and invest in new methods of understanding the ethical, legal, and social implications associated with future biotechnology products.
“Technical and economic trends in the biological sciences and biological engineering are accelerating the rate at which new product ideas are formulated,” according to the report.
