I saw this recently and wondered where this will lead.
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I don’t think it will lead anywhere – great fragrance is the result is MANY different compounds. Engineering in one fragrance gene will produce something about as complex and interesting as artificially flavored foods. We can already spray perfumes on flowers, or dunk apples in artificial flavoring (to create the wretched “grapple”) and the results are not particularly inspiring. A GE approach would be incredibly expensive, and not any more pleasing.
“great fragrance is the result is MANY different compounds” …just as man made perfumes are.
And that bio synthesis of any such compound is controled by a single or a few genes is not obvious at all. However a lot will be learned trying to genetically manipulate fragrances promoting genes.
Oppositely that unwillingly it was so often lost points out to no single or few genes control of fragrance.
Unless they can guaranty it will smell like pineapple upside down cake, it won’t be worth it! ha!
The only way I could see it be worth it is that a company that produces cut flowers could add one scent genes to their varieties and then they could get a industrial patent and not a plant patent. This could prevent any one using their work and the rose would not even have to smell.
Breeding for fragrance IS one of the exciting aspects of roses. I would say the underlying genes for fragrance can be carried on without being expressed- just like remontancy. Hybridity somehow affects this expression- usually turning it off, but nontheless can also sometimes turn it on.
Characterizations of 24 Old Garden Roses from Their Volatile Compositions
Article (magazine) (1997) Page(s) 4437.
Percent Composition of Rose Extracts (FID Trace)
Queen of Denmark
2-phenyl-ethanol 43.40
nerol 5.57
neral 0.07
geraniol 10.88
geranial 0.14
geranyl acetate 2.09
trans, trans-farnesol 0.10
benzyl benzoate 2.58
hydrocarbons 17.00
benzaldehyde 0.12
benzyl alcohol 18.24
nonanal + cis-rose oxide 0.07
You know 17% hydrocarbons is an awfully broad spectrum.
Like the scented pine cones at the entrance to every store around Christmas isn’t already overkill, lol.
I wonder how many mistakes they will generate along the way? Roses that smell of vomit? Gym socks? Mouse pee? The mind boggles.
Paul, that conjures up my mental images of when I read of Calgene’s attempts to extract genes from Petunia to put into roses. I had all these images of furry, sticky, stinky, prickly rose plants with odd, sticky flowers on rangy annual plants being attacked by Geranium Bud Worms. Imagine if they then made them smell like deer repellant! LOL! Ooo! Just had a wonderful thought! Make them look and smell like vegetables, then include a toxic gene so when planted they would attract every squirrel, rabbit, gopher and cocker spaniel! That would be one effective way of ridding our gardens of unwanted visitors!