GoKawiilSuntory engineers rose with genuinely blue petals using four foreign genes
Researchers at Suntory Global Innovation Center in Kyoto inserted genes from Canterbury bells, wishbone flowers and clustered gentian into a pink rose to produce both blue pigments and colorless co-pigment molecules that deepen color. The combination yielded flowers rated violet-blue on a standard color chart, a shade beyond the purplish tone of Suntory's earlier 2004 genetically modified rose. The company announced the results August 25 at the International Horticultural Congress in Kyoto, noting the plants stayed blue through seven years of greenhouse trials in Japan and three years of field trials in Colombia.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
Since roses naturally lack the enzymes needed for blue pigment and the co-pigment molecules that stabilize it, this suggests the earlier barrier to true blue roses was more about color chemistry than just pigment presence. Suntory says it hopes to further deepen the blue hue, which could eventually reshape commercial rose breeding and floral markets that have long marketed 'blue roses' as artificially dyed novelties.
- Suntory combined four genes from three other blue-flowered species to engineer the rose.
- The key innovation was adding colorless co-pigment molecules alongside blue pigment, not just the pigment itself.
- Field trials in Colombia and greenhouse trials in Japan showed the blue trait persisted for years.
Source: sciencenews.org — Tina Hesman Saey, 2026-09-25
Published there as: “Finally, A True Blue Rose Exists”
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