It was in a greenhouse in Oakland, California in 1989 that I began to question what I thought I knew about the use of transgenes in agriculture. I had been urged to look at some transgenic petunia plants by a company to which I was a scientific advisor. The plants in front of me had deep purple petals with many white segments. Some of the plants had all-white flowers. The white segments and the...

It was in a greenhouse in Oakland, California in 1989 that I began to question what I thought I knew about the use of transgenes in agriculture. I had been urged to look at some transgenic petunia plants by a company to which I was a scientific advisor. The plants in front of me had deep purple petals with many white segments. Some of the plants had all-white flowers. The white segments and the...

The floricultural industry has focused its attention primarily on the development of novel coloured and longer living cut flowers. The basis for this was laid down some years ago through the isolation of 'blue' genes and ethylene biosynthesis genes. Recently, a novel 'blue' gene has been discovered and yellow pigments were produced in petunias by addition of a new branch to the phenylpropanoid ...

The most obvious feature of a butterfly garden are nectar-bearing flowering plants. Plants commonly visited by butterflies are those which provide sugary nectar used by many species as an energy source. Types of flowers vary greatly in this regard and many commonly used bedding plants such as geraniums and petunias are rarely visited by butterflies, although the latter may be visited at dusk by...

Petunias (Petunia hybrida cv. 'Mitchell') accumulate free proline (Pro) under drought-stress conditions. It is therefore believed that Pro acts as an osmoprotectant in plants subjected to drought conditions. Petunia plants were transformed by Delta(1)-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase genes (AtP5CS from Arabidopsis thaliana L. or OsP5CS from Oryza sativa L.). The transgenic plants accumulated ...