Improving Floral Scent in Flowers

Posted on June 6, 2007 with 1 Comment

The benefits of flowers may go far beyond what is normally believed. Flowers not only have a pleasing visual impact, but their scents may impact one’s mood. Floral scents are a natural source of mood enhancers. It had been observed that a large number of cut flowers have lost their scent during the selection, breeding and transportation processes. This loss of scent has long been recognized as a major problem in the floriculture industry. Engineering transgenic plants with improved scent quality would reduce this problem.

The goal of the proposed research is to create transgenic plants with modified scent quality and to transfer this technology to the floriculture industry. Crops with improved scent quality and newly introduced aromas offer possibilities to expand markets and increase grower’s income. There are introduction of few genes, specific cell and tissue types in the flower during plant growth and development. This process further helps in maintaining the floral scent of the flowers. Genetically engineer floral scent production in plants via gene transfer requires 10-12 months.

Results from this process will provide the knowledge base for manipulation of the output of volatile compounds by recombinant DNA technologies. This transformation with scent genes will possibly create flower more attractive to the consumers. These flowers will be a novelty, a combination of colour, shape and scent not seen before.