Which colour would you like your roses? Red, white, yellow ... or perhaps blue? Japan's Suntory Ltd. said Tuesday it would start selling the world's first genetically-modified blue roses next month, 20 years after it began research to create the novelty flowers.
The major whisky distiller said it succeeded in developing blue roses in 2004 with the Australian biotech company Florigene Pty Ltd.
The blue roses are created by implanting the gene that leads to the synthesis of the blue pigment Delphinidin in pansies, the firm said.
The product was approved by the Japanese government in 2008 on the basis of an international agreement on biosafety. It took one year for the company to establish its production and marketing systems, Suntory said.
Named Applause, the new variety is "recommended as a luxurious gift for special occasions such as wedding anniversaries and birthdays", the company said.
They are expected to be priced between 2,000 and 3,000 yen (22 and 33 dollars) per stem, about 10 times more expensive than normal roses in Japan.
There are no current plans to sell the new variety overseas.
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(Agencies)
你喜歡什麼顏色的玫瑰？紅色、白色、黃色……或是藍色？日本三得利有限公司於本周二宣布，該公司將於下月開始銷售世界上首批轉基因藍玫瑰。有關這種新型花卉的研究持續了20年。
這家大型威士忌蒸餾企業稱，該公司與澳大利亞一家名為「花基因」的生物科技公司合作，於2004年成功研製出藍玫瑰。
該公司稱，藍玫瑰是通過植入一種可生成三色紫羅蘭中所含的藍色花翠素的基因培育而成。
2008年，日本政府依據一項國際生物安全協議，批准了該產品的生產。三得利公司稱，之後他們又花了一年的時間來建立生產和營銷體系。
據該公司介紹，這種新品玫瑰被命名為「喝彩」，「可作為結婚紀念日或生日這種特別場合的豪華禮品」。
這種藍玫瑰的售價預計為每支2000到3000日元之間（合22至33美元之間），比日本普通玫瑰的售價貴十倍。
目前該公司還沒有在海外銷售這一新品種的計劃。
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（英語點津陳丹妮 姍姍編輯）