It is said that it cost the Japanese brewer Suntory, just under Euro 30 million to breed the blue rose over a period of ten years. The appropriate gene coding for the blue pigment was identified in 1991 but it was only in 2004 that it was successfully inserted into the rose genome. Suntory estimate the potential world market value for this transgenic rose as Euro 230 million. The light blue-violet colour of this rose still needs improving to a stonger sky-blue colour but at all events their popularity is predicted to grow rapidly and they ar much more attractive that roses that are dyed blue. The blue rose will start to reach the market in 2007 after the propagation of adequate stocks and the start-up of commercial cultivation.
Techniques developed for the insertion of the blue gene will provide the basis for other genetic modification on colour and resistance to pests and diseases. Suntory is the company behind many other milestones in breeding that include: Sufinia, Calibrachoa ‘Million Bells’ and the Dipladenia series ‘Sundaville’. Monique Krinkels “Prophyta Annual 2005”, Fax 0031 71 3326364, E-mail: info@prophyta.nl, www.prophyta.nl |
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