Blue Rose Suntory Applause

Blue flowers
The blue rose project began in 1990 at the initiative of the Australian company Florigene with a grant from Suntory, a Japanese beverage 3 trillion yen invested in the generation of blue flowers, roses and carnations.

The company isolated the gene for plants that have the information thought to produce the blue pigment delphinidin, dubbed "Blue Gene". Once isolated the gene was introduced in carnation plants and thus the mid-90s were obtained first blue carnations.

Currently on the market seven varieties of carnations blue pigment which was modified by genetic engineering with the "Blue Gene". The company also produces and exports Colombian Flowers since 2000 GM blue carnations generated by inserting a gene from petunia. In addition, Colombia is now entering the market for blue roses.

The blue rose genetically engineered
Based on experience with carnations, the Japanese company could come up with the technique for generating blue petals of roses. In 2004, Yoshikazu Tanaka, director of the Center for Plant Science Studies Suntory, showed the world its first genetically modified blue rose.

The technique was to introduce in the rose plants extracted gene thought responsible for the color blue, and that does not exist in roses. "Unlike the roses created by using conventional breeding technologies, the roses developed by us have almost 100% delphinidin in their petals, which has allowed these new and different blue roses to become a reality," spreads Florigene company.