How scientists tried to make a blue rose

Blue roses. Are they real? Do they really exist in nature? You probably asked yourself these questions or tried to imagine blue roses. I will try to tackle yours and my questions and imaginations about this type of rose, which is elusive and it is hard to clarify the things about it. But we will try to do that in the next few lines. So keep reading. There are some interesting things about this blue rose.

Photo: Flickr

In this article, we decide to share information on how scientists tried to make a blue rose, by genetic engineering and if they succeeded with that. In the last years, scientists made two major attempts at creating a blue rose. One of those two attempts, you can read right below, with a more detailed description of what procedures they actually undertook to make this happen.

First of all, are they real? Do they really exist in nature? No. Nature never evolved blue roses. But scientists tried to do that, and florists, of course. They tried to do that by modifying the genes of rose. But science GMO is so controversial that raises ethical questions about it, with which I do not agree. They did that by introducing the bacterial enzymes, which can convert l-glutamine, which constitutes rose petal, into something called indigoidine, which is a blue pigment. First, they engineered a bacteria called Agrobacterium Tumefaciens, which contains genes capable to produce pigments. They use Tumefaciens because this type of bacteria inserts DNA into genomes without hesitation. Because of this feature, it is very often used in plant biotechnology. So when researchers injected these modified bacteria into rose petals, the bacterium passed these genes, able to produce pigments, to the rose. And bluish color appeared on the injected site. But this didn't result successfully. Because the effect was only temporary, and it was spotty. But they praised themselves, how this rose is first made blue rose. And that they will try to look at it, how to do this without injecting.

Photo retrieved from pubs.acs.org

There was another attempt to make the blue rose. Experimenters tried to combine over 40 types of roses, to make blue rose and to make that color stable. But, it resulted in a rose called Suntory Applause, which you can see in the picture below. However, this does not look like true blue color. It looks more like grayish purple. This color tone is called Mauve. But it is still pretty rose, with an unusual color, which I believe many of you may want to have.

Photo retrieved from Wikimedia Commons

So there you have it. If you have your own thoughts on these two major scientific attempts, to create blue rose, please share them in the comment section below. We see in these examples that something is possible but, will it be completely possible? Only time can answer that question. So, in the meantime, enjoy the rose by planting them, decorating with them your living space, and giving them.