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Recent Advancements of Biotechnology for improvement of Ornamentals
                  Ornamentals recognized as a vital part of the world’s natural heritage. They have great economic and cultural importance and potential, providing economic security for vast number of people throughout the world. A total of 409 ornamental varieties with new flower colour and chlorophyll variegation in leaves have been developed in different ornamental crops.
                   Recent advances in genetic engineering technology have opened up the possibility of manipulating the concentration of flower colour pigments in a highly controlled fashion. Petunia flower colour, pigmentation patterns and anthocyanin composition have been changed with sense or antisense constructs of the F3’5’H gene under the control of the CaMV 35S promoter.
                 Rapid development in molecular techniques for plant transformations, especially identification of ethylene biosynthesis pathways has opened the way for developing improved varieties with increased post-harvest longevity.
                 Reduction or elimination of flower colour pigments has been possible by sense and antisense has been developed for gene suppression. Sense constructs of the CHS and dihydro flavonol 4-reductase (DFR) genes were found to inhibit anthocyanin pigmentation, and sometimes to produce unusual and interesting patterns on flower petals.
                 Genetically engineering floral scent may also enhance the value of cut flowers to consumers. Several genes make the organs to produce secondary metabolites that will enhance floral scent and fruit flavor.
                   One of the recent exciting areas of genetic engineering is manipulation of flower shape. Deficiens genes and agamous genes isolated from Antirrhinum majus and A. thaliana have created novel flower shapes through molecular manipulation of floral homeotic genes.
                    No blue rose is in the nature, as it is in capable of synthesizing the blue pigment delphinidin due to deficiency of the enzyme dihydrokaempferol 3’5’ hydroxylase. Calgene pacific company at Melbourne, Japan, and Petunia Genetics group, France have collectively successfully isolated and standardized the technique to transfer the blue gene from petunia to roses.
                     Bioinformatics and Biotechnology  paving a widening path for the new era of research in the domain of Floriculture and creating wide spread research opportunities in the field of pigmentation and architecture of flowers.

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