I think it’s interesting they noted the flowers stopped making the new pigment in the wild after 3 years - is it a genetic treatment that requires repeated intervention to maintain the effect?
I’m also guessing the new genes don’t propagate to the seeds as well, so that they can have a steady demand for their special flowers.
No, the trial was only conducted for three years, presumably because that's how long they budgeted. I don't think they actually stopped producing blue flowers at that point.
This is why hybrids need to be re-bred with themselves many many generations in order to stabilize the phenotype. The genetic info may still be there but not expressing itself
I think it's certain the seeds will not 'come true' -- the story suggests they spliced a little something in from every known blue flower -- gentian, delphinium, campanula etc etc Don't know for sure but feel: good luck hitting all the keys with recombination! Once they have a plant they like with all their gene-splicing tech, there would be as many ways of propagating as with e.g. named apple varieties'.
My impression from other stories is that they are certainly preparing commercial release, they just stopped the experiment (somehow there is scientific involvement see <a href="https://pub.confit.atlas.jp/en/event/ihc2026/presentation/S16-3-02" rel="nofollow">https://pub.confit.atlas.jp/en/event/ihc2026/presentation/S1...). They had an earlier 'blue' rose var "Applause" - which in the photos does not come close to this strange one <a href="https://www.suntoryapplause.com" rel="nofollow">https://www.suntoryapplause.com It was apparently used only by commercial growers for superfancy florists.
Blue or blue-tending flowers photograph really badly, on Kodachrome as on the internet, so nothing is to be really credited til you see it in life. If you type 'heavenly blue morning glory' in the browser you will see faked images - the real thing is nevertheless perfectly astonishing.
In general a blue effect, like the Heavenly Blue or the astounding mecanopsis, Himalayan poppy - once seen, never forgotten, in USA grown in Pacific NW only - involves more than just pigment but other ancillary curiosa like ferric ions trapping unfriendly wavelengths. The gene splicing was from several 'blue' flowers, but in some cases, if I follow, they were targeting these ancillaries, not the pigment.
rbanffy · · focus · HN ↗
I’m also guessing the new genes don’t propagate to the seeds as well, so that they can have a steady demand for their special flowers.
equinoxnemesis · · focus · HN ↗
m0llusk · · focus · HN ↗
adzm · · focus · HN ↗
applicative · · focus · HN ↗
My impression from other stories is that they are certainly preparing commercial release, they just stopped the experiment (somehow there is scientific involvement see <a href="https://pub.confit.atlas.jp/en/event/ihc2026/presentation/S16-3-02" rel="nofollow">https://pub.confit.atlas.jp/en/event/ihc2026/presentation/S1...). They had an earlier 'blue' rose var "Applause" - which in the photos does not come close to this strange one <a href="https://www.suntoryapplause.com" rel="nofollow">https://www.suntoryapplause.com It was apparently used only by commercial growers for superfancy florists.
Blue or blue-tending flowers photograph really badly, on Kodachrome as on the internet, so nothing is to be really credited til you see it in life. If you type 'heavenly blue morning glory' in the browser you will see faked images - the real thing is nevertheless perfectly astonishing.
In general a blue effect, like the Heavenly Blue or the astounding mecanopsis, Himalayan poppy - once seen, never forgotten, in USA grown in Pacific NW only - involves more than just pigment but other ancillary curiosa like ferric ions trapping unfriendly wavelengths. The gene splicing was from several 'blue' flowers, but in some cases, if I follow, they were targeting these ancillaries, not the pigment.