Petite Knock Out Rose - AVOID

[Jwindha]

Do I understand all of that to mean that after all the tens of millions they threw at that "project", it resulted in pretty much nothing? Not a blue rose nor a rose which should help produce other odd colors through breeding? What a bummer!

I'm sure they were delighted that the transgenes aren't heritable. This not only greatly reduces the risk of environmental escape (and eases the severity of certain regulations), but also allows them to corner the market on "blue" roses (since the transformation process is replicable in other varieties they may have traditionally bred).

[jrichardson]

I would not be inclined to buy a rose I could not use to hybridize with. My space is too limited for that. Thanks for the heads up.

Joan Richardson

[roseseek]

Same here, and just as importantly, I won't support that behavior by giving them my money. The dollar in my hand is one of my most valuable "votes". It is THE one which counts. People can and will say anything, but it's what they put their money behind that does and says it all.

[Don]

>> I'm sure they were delighted that the transgenes aren't heritable.

The chimerism may not have simply been fortuitous.

The original engineering for the blue rose occurred more than two decades ago iirc. Assuming the transformation was heritable, how difficult would it be to subsequently create a chimera using the transformed tissue?

[paul.barden]

Same here, and just as importantly, I won't support that behavior by giving them my money. The dollar in my hand is one of my most valuable "votes". It is THE one which counts. People can and will say anything, but it's what they put their money behind that does and says it all.

Quite right. We don't need no replay of the Percy Schmeiser drama in our corner of horticulture. This kind of engineering should be discouraged.