Blueming marvellous!
First truly blue chrysanthemum created after 13 years of trying
IT HAS taken 13 years of painstaking research but they are finally here – the first bunch of true blue chrysanthemums.
Grown using the DNA from three plants, these flowers represent a scientific breakthrough which could help to transform our gardens.
While you may think you’ve seen plenty of blue blooms – bluebells, for instance – they are officially different versions of purple or violet instead.
These chrysanthemums, however, are the first to be verified as ‘true blue’ by the Royal Horticultural Society. They passed the stringent criteria of the RHS colour scale, which requires plants to be faced north towards the light before being measured against a detailed chart.
But sadly, you probably won’t be able to buy one for a while yet. A spokesman for the European Commission said: ‘EU rules
‘Could be applied to roses and dahlias’
ensure GM plants undergo a scientific assessment to ensure they pose no risk to human health or the environment before they go on the EU market.’
Guy Barter, chief horticulturist at the RHS, said: ‘This could provide new options for perfectionist gardeners looking for flowers which are blue rather than violet or lavender.’
To create the flower, scientists took DNA from a butterfly pea and Canterbury bell, transferring them into a common plant bug. The microscopic bug then carried the blue genes into a chrysanthemum.
When seeds were taken from the plant, a year after the procedure began, they grew and emerged with the blue petals.
But the flowers are not uniformly blue, as genes work weakly or strongly depending on where in a plant’s DNA they are spliced.
The process was reported in the journal Science Advances by Japan’s National Agriculture and Food Research Organisation.
Lead author Dr Naonobu Noda said: ‘ Chrysanthemums are the second best-selling cut flowers, after roses, in the world. Our blue chrysanthemums have a novel and natural blue colour, which has been confirmed as true blue. This is a flower with three parents, coming from the chrysanthemum, butterfly pea and Canterbury bell. The technique could be applied to other plants... for example roses and dahlias.’
It took the team in Japan 13 years to create the blue chrysanthemum, which are naturally pink or red. Initial attempts to change the colour just using the Canterbury bell, a popular bellshaped garden plant, came out in different shades of violet.
But when combined with genes from a second plant, the bright butterfly pea – grown in the tropics and used to colour food – it was a success. The two- step method was described as ‘unexpected’ by the Japanese scientists, who initially believed multiple plant genes would be required in a more complicated process.