Roses have been bred in many varieties with many different flower colours over the years, but never blue. A biotechnology breakthrough may finally help resolve the difficulty. In 1986 Florigene, an Australian company, attempted to develop a blue rose by introducing a "blue" petunia gene into roses, so far with little success. Scientists at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine researching how the liver metabolizes drugs, discovered by chance a human protein that may hold the key to creating the first blue rose. Elizabeth Gillam, working in the laboratory of biochemist F. Peter Guengerich demonstrated how a container full of a certain bacteria could be turned blue with an enzyme taken from a patient’s liver. The scientists are now trying to insert the human gene responsible for produzing this enzyme into roses. "FlowerTech" www.HortiWorld.nl www.agriworld.nl