Human gene may produce blue rose
Roses are red. Violets are blue.
Now, thanks to VU, roses could be blue, too.
Two biochemists researching cancer and Alzheimer's disease drugs at Vanderbilt University have made a startling discovery quite by chance — and it could prove to be the grand prize for rose-lovers yearning for that elusive blue rose.
You see, there are no natural blue roses.
But there could be, thanks to Peter Guengerich and his colleague Elizabeth Gillam.
The two were studying how drugs are metabolized in the body when they took a gene from a human liver and placed it into bacteria.
'Well, the bacteria turned blue,' said Guengerich, professor of biochemistry and director of the Center in Molecular Toxicology at Vanderbilt. 'That was surprising.
'We knew people have been interested in making a blue rose for years, so we thought if we could move these human genes into flowers, we might come up with one.'
Gillam, a senior lecturer in pharmacology at the University of Queensland in Australia, was in Australia and could not be reached for comment. She was a post-doctoral trainee in Vanderbilt's biochemistry department from 1991-93 and has been working with Guengerich on research since then.
A blue rose would be a first, according to Carol Spiers, assistant to the executive director of the American Rose Society.
'There aren't any true blues, and there aren't any true blacks,' Spiers said, referring to petal color. 'The most popular so-called blue, which is Blue Girl, is actually mauve.'
Local rose breeder Robbie Tucker agreed.
'There is no blue pigment in a rose. It just doesn't exist,' Tucker said. 'So you've got to genetically take the code for blue from a different plant and introduce it to the rose.'
Sam Jones, chairman of this weekend's Nashville Rose Society Spring Show, expressed excitement over the discovery.
'It's a goal we've been looking for for a long time. And for it to come about from biochemistry rather than plant breeding is very unique.
'It should be a very popular rose, because blue is often associated with patriotic themes. You could have red, white and blue bouquets. And for Mother's Day, it would be nice. And, it's novel, as well.'
Guengerich and Gillam have filed for a patent for their process and, if it proves successful, they could be sitting on, well, a bed of roses.
But they've encountered some real thorns along the way.
'In our initial attempts, the gene didn't know whether to turn the stem or the thorns or the flower blue,' Guengerich said. 'We've seen some of each.'
So the biochemists must figure out how to target the flower with their 'blue gene.'
And blue roses won't appear at your local garden center this summer. Guengerich said it could be a year or more before an actual blue bloom materializes.
'I'm working on other things with the drugs,' he said. 'And, it will take some time to work on the blue showing up in the flowers rather than the stems.'
Speaking of blue genes, er, jeans, the coloring could have consequences beyond genus Rosa.
Think genus Levi Strauss.
'If it works, we could make blue cotton,' Guengerich said. 'You know, when they make blue jeans, they start with white cotton and dye it. Well, you could soon see fields and fields of blue cotton growing along the road to Memphis.'
The 'blue gene' could also translate into lots of green, according to local seller Betty Smith of Betty Smith Nursery at the Nashville Farmers Market.
'If somebody comes up with a blue rose, they'll sell real good,' she said. 'People like blues and purples. I could sell a lot of them.'
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