By expressing bacterial genes, white rose
petals can take on a blue hue (Image: American Chemical Society)
For centuries, gardeners have attempted to breed blue roses
with no success. But now, thanks to modern biotechnology, the elusive blue rose
may finally be attainable. Researchers have found a way to express
pigment-producing enzymes from bacteria in the petals of a white rose, tinting
the flowers blue.
Although blue roses do not exist in nature, florists can
produce blue-hued flowers by placing cut roses in dye. Also, in a painstaking
20-year effort, biotechnologists made a "blue rose" through a
combination of genetic engineering and selective breeding. However, the rose is
more mauve-colored than blue.
A completely different strategy presented in this study employs a dual expression plasmid containing bacterial idgS and sfp genes. The holo-IdgS, activated by Sfp from its
apo-form, is a functional nonribosomal peptide synthetase that converts l-glutamine into the
blue pigment indigoidine. Expression of these genes upon petal injection with
agro-infiltration solution generates blue-hued rose flowers. We envision that
implementing this proof-of-concept with obligatory modifications may have
tremendous impact in floriculture to achieve a historic milestone in rose
breeding.
Ref: Ankanahalli N. Nanjaraj Urs, Yiling Hu, Pengwei Li, Zhiguang Yuchi, Yihua Chen, Yan Zhang. Cloning and Expression of a Nonribosomal Peptide Synthetase to Generate Blue Rose. ACS Synthetic Biology, 2018; DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.8b00187
