Breeding of transgenic orange Petunia hybrida varieties

Colour is the major contributor to the total ornamental value of a flower. The combination of biochemical knowledge and genetic engineering technology has resulted in the addition of a new colour to the existing colour range of Petunia hybrida. This has been achieved by expression of the maize dihydroflavonol-4-reductase (dfr) gene in a suitable petunia acceptor which leads to the accumulation of pelargonidin-derived pigments in flowers. The resulting flower colour, however, was a pale brick-red, which is commercially unattractive in petunia.