On Thu, 27 May 2004 21:34:31 -0400, in rec.gardens.roses you wrote:


"Kirk Gregory Czuhai" wrote:
Scientists have been planting a human gene into bacteria with the
result that its turning them blue.

They think it could lead to the possible insertion of the gene into a
rose plant leading to roses that are BLUE!!

Last try I heard about, they ended up inserting the gene for a precursor
of a blue chemical found in many flowers...but roses do not have the
metabolic pathways to convert the precursor into the blue stuff itself!
Or at least that type of rose didn't. (I'm sure that someone will
correct me if I have the details wrong.)

However, here in Nashville, over there at Vanderbilt, they're
definitely working on it. It was in the local paper Tuesday.

http://tennessean.com/local/archives...nt_ID=51835356

Interesting note: some yellow roses have no scent, but their white
relatives do have a scent, one rather like that of violets. (I think
this includes varieties of R. banksia.) It seems that there's a gene
that turns on the conversion of yellow carotenoids into colorless
scented compounds...

Mark., Nature will throw you a curve ball often enough