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Roses (Rosa hybrida) are a highly merchandised flower but lack blue varieties. Overexpression of the flavonoid 3′,5′-hydroxylase (F3′5′H) gene can increase the accumulation of blue pigment (delphinidin anthocyanin). However, sometimes the effect of F3′5′H gene alone is inadequate for producing blue flowers. Furthermore, the internal environment of the cell, such as an increase in pH, can also help the conversion of anthocyanins to blue pigments. Nonetheless, genetic engineering methods can simultaneously introduce multiple genes at the same time to regulate the development of blue pigments to achieve the ultimate breeding goal of producing blue color in roses. In the present study, to simultaneously adjust the accumulation of delphinidin and vacuolar pH, we introduced the Viola tricolor flavonoid 3′,5′-hydroxylase (VtF3′5′H) and Rosa hybrida Na+/H+ exchanger (RhNHX) genes into the white rose line “KR056002” using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) results showed that the heterologous genes in the transgenic lines were highly expressed in petals and leaves, and simultaneously promoted the expression of related anthocyanin synthesis structural genes. Obvious color changes were observed in both petals and young leaves, especially when petals changed from white to red-purple. The formation of delphinidin was not detected in the petals of control plants, whereas the petals of transgenic lines had higher delphinidin content (135–214 μg/l) and increased pH value (0.45–0.53) compared with those of control plants.

The cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) enzyme encoded by CYP2E1 plays an important role in the metabolism of organic compounds in mammalian liver cells. In this study, the plasmid pCAMBIA2300 harboring the rabbit CYP2E1 was transferred into Agrobacterium tumefaciens; this was then transferred into internodes of Ardisia pusilla. Shoot primordia, whose appearance resembles that of the in vitro protocorm-like body of orchids, regenerated from 121 of 332 internodes that were cultured in selection medium supplemented with 5 mg·L−1 kanamycin. PCR analysis confirmed that 25 of 89 putative transgenic plants (28.0%) stably harbored the CYP2E1 and NPTII genes, and Southern blot analysis revealed the presence of one to three copies of CYP2E1 within the genome of the 25 transgenic plants. The mRNA expression of the transgene was confirmed in 12 of 25 CYP2E1-transgenic plants by Northern blot analysis. Western blot analysis indicated the presence of a 53-kDa recombinant rabbit CYP2E1 protein in the 12 CYP2E1-transgenic A. pusilla plants. The aniline 4-hydroxylase activity of rabbit CYP2E1 in nine CYP2E1-transgenic A. pusilla plants was higher than that in non-transgenic A. pusilla plants. There was a statistically significant increase (5.1–6.1-fold) in the toluene removal ability of the transgenic line CYP2E1-2–2 compared to that observed in wild-type Ardisia plants at different times after exogenous toluene exposure.

A new small-type pink-colored Phalaenopsis cultivar, ‘Tiny Bell’, was released by the National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, Rural Development Administration (Korea) in 2018. ‘Tiny Bell’ was derived in 2010 from crossing P. ‘D07PN16’, multi-floral small-type cultivar with pink-colored flowers, and P. ‘D03PN22’, a small-type cultivar with light pink-colored flowers. In the preliminary selection stage in 2014, the cultivar known as ‘10531-53’ was chosen among 120 individual progenies, based on phenotypic standards such as flower color and shape, inflorescence number, and leaf attitude. The stability and uniformity of the cultivar was confirmed through the first and second characteristics tests from 2014 to 2018, and the cultivar was thereafter named ‘Tiny Bell’. ‘Tiny Bell’ has violet pink (RHS, PVGN80A) flowers with a white edge. The dimensions of the f lowers are 3.89 cm ( length) and 4.01 cm (width). T he i nf ol rescence type is a r aceme with m any flowers (19.7 blooms per inflorescence). The leaves of ‘Tiny Bell’ grow horizontally and are 13.1 cm in length and 5.26 cm in width. This new cultivar of Phalaenopsis ‘Tiny Bell’ is well suited as a small-sized potted orchid.

We report a new hybrid Cymbidium, ‘Aroma Pink,’ bred at the National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, Rural Development Administration, in 2017. The hybrid was derived from the cross of C. Lucky Rainbow ‘Lapin Hot’ and C. eburneum in 2000. After the artificial crossing, 120 seedlings were obtained through in vitro seed germination and seedling acclimatization in a greenhouse. Based on a number of characteristics, including flower color, leaf shape, flower stalk, and vigorous growth, three initial lines were selected. The first and second trials for characteristics were conducted from 2011 to 2016, confirming the stability and uniformity of the three lines, and one final line, coded ‘00-1174-100’, was selected as ‘Wongyuo F1-62’ and named ‘Aroma Pink.’ This hybrid is a medium-sized plant with white petals (WNN155D), light pink colored sepals (RP62D), and yellow lip (Y2B). The flower has an incurved shape and the dimensions are 6.1 cm (length) and 5.2 cm (width), making it a relatively compact flower. Overall, its shape and size resemble that of its female parent, but instead of a dark red lip, it has a yellow lip that is similar to the male parent, giving a bright overlook rather than an intense impression. Each plant has 2.9 stalks on average and 6.5 flowers attached on each stalk. Although the number of flowers is relatively less, the flower has a delicate fragrance that is similar to that of C. eburneum. In addition, the new hybrid has a stable shape with erect peduncle and less drooping leaves. ‘Aroma Pink’ begins to bloom from March, under normal cultivation and without the need of moving it to a high altitude area. Although the color of the flower can become blurred in high temperature during flowering season, this hybrid is easy to cultivate and manage.

The cultivar of the moon cactus, ‘Aul’, was bred by the National Institute of Horticultural & Herbal Science in 2016. To obtain ‘Aul’, the maternal line, ‘0809067’ with red and yellow colors, and the paternal line, ‘0828039’ with deep red color, were crossed on July 7, 2012. Until 2013, a young moon cactus was grafted twice onto the vine cactus, Hylocereus trigonus, in vitro and in vivo. The growth characteristics were surveyed three times from 2014 to 2016, according to the guidelines of Gymnocalycium mihanovichii of the Korea Seed and Variety Service. ‘Aul’ has a flat round shape, red skin (R44A), and average of 9.7 ribs. The spine on its body has a gray color. The spine grew on average to 3.0 mm in a straight shape. The shape of the tubercle on the rib was projecting. This cultivar was 46.9 mm in diameter, and produced 16.4 offsets on average, with red & yellow colors 10 months after planting. This cultivar symmetrically produced 1 or 2 offsets per rib. The preference score was 3.8 on a 5-point scale. On May 16, 2018, ‘Aul’ was registered (Registration No. 7195) and is now being protected by the Act on the Protection of New Varieties of Plants.

The Arabidopsis nucleoside diphosphate kinase 2 (AtNDPK2) gene is known to regulate the cellular redox state, and to enhance tolerance to multiple stressors in plants. In this study, we transferred AtNDPK2 under the stress-inducible promoter SWPA2 into Ardisia pusilla to enhance the plants’ ability to detoxify toluene gas. Thirty transgenic A. pusilla lines were confirmed by PCR analysis with AtNDPK2 and NPTII gene-specific primers. In addition, four transgenic A. pusilla lines were further confirmed by Southern blot analysis to verify the gene copy number. Three transgenic lines showed a single-copy transgene insertion, and one transgenic line had two transgene insertions. To test the gene expression of AtNDPK2 in the transgenic A. pusilla lines exposed to and not exposed to toluene treatment, qRT-PCR analysis was performed. The gene expression of AtNDPK2 in transgenic A. pusilla plants exposed to toluene treatment was significantly higher than that of transgenic plants not exposed to toluene treatment. Finally, we measured toluene removal efficiency of the transgenic and non-transgenic A. pusilla lines exposed to toluene-contaminated air. There was a statistically significant difference between the transgenic and non-transgenic A. pusilla lines at all time points (p

A pink big-lip Phalaenopsis cultivar ‘Lovely Angel’ was developed by the National Institute of Horticultural & Herbal Science, Rural Development Administration (Korea) in 2017. ‘Lovely Angel’ was derived by artificial crossing between white-colored cultivar P. ‘Timonthy’ and pink-colored flower with big-lip cultivar P. World Class ‘Big Foot’ in 2009. In 2013, 09056-12 was selected as excellent growth and flowering characteristics, such as flower color, shape, and inflorescence number. The first and second characteristic tests were conducted from 2014 to 2017 to evaluate the stability and uniformity, named thereafter as ‘Lovely Angel’. ‘Lovely Angel’ has violet-pink (RHS, PVG81C) flowers with stripes and big purple lips (RHS, PG78B). The incurved florets measure 6.1 and 5.6 cm in length and width, respectively. The number of florets per inflorescence is 20.6, which is suitably large and abundant, and the inflorescence length of ‘Lovely Angel’ is 31.8 cm. The leaves of ‘Lovely Angel’ grow semi-pendulously and are 18.7 cm in length and 6.8cm in width. The new cultivar ‘Lovely Angel’ can be mainly available for small-type potted flowers.

Cymbidium belongs to Orchidaceae, one of the most abundant angiosperm families. Cymbidium cultivars have a high aesthetic value and commercially valued characteristics such as a pleasant scent and a variety of flower colors. Cymbidium cultivar ‘Sael Bit’, which was developed by National Institute of Horticultural & Herbal Science (NIHHS), is highly fragrant with small green and light yellow flowers. An analysis of ‘Sael Bit’ floral scent emissions by an electronic nose showed that the petal and initial flowering stage emitted a strong scent. In an headspace-solid phase micro extraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) ‘Sael Bit’ study, we identified alkenes and benzenoids, such as tridecane, benzene, and Z-2-octenal, as major volatile organic compounds. V-myb myeloblastosis viral oncogene homolog (MYB) transcription factors (TFs) play a positive role in floral scent regulation. However, little is known about the MYB transcriptional regulation of floral scent biosynthesis. Due to the importance of the plant’s biology, we need to study the floral scent MYB TFs in this plant. In the present work, we isolated and cloned the full-length cDNA of Cymbidium cultivar ‘Sael Bit’ MYB1 from fully open flower. CsMYB1 encodes an 840-bp open reading frame and 280 amino acids by functional characterization. In q-RT-PCR expression analysis, CsMYB1 TF showed the highest expression in petals and columns compared to sepals and labella. Moreover, this MYB gene expressed various flower developmental stages and was highly expressed at the fully open flower stage. The phenylpropanoid/benzenoid and ester compounds responsible genes expressed through CsMYB1 TF regulation in q-RT-PCR analysis. According to these results, we suggest that CsMYB1 might be involved in the regulation of phenylpropanoid/benzenoid genes in floral scent profile. In future studies, we will focus on develop regulation models of floral scent in Cymbidium cultivar ‘Sael Bit’.

Because novel cultivars and plant breeders are protected by intellectual property rights internationally, cultivar breeding has become vital. Domestic private seed companies have not focused on the development of novel cultivars of ornamental crops in Korea; therefore, the Rural Development Administration (RDA) has been breeding novel cultivars of ornamental crops, including cymbidium orchids since 1992. In Korea, the area under cultivation and sales of cymbidium were 44 ha and approximately $8 million in 2017. Because cymbidium, one of the major orchids cultivated in Korea, requires a relatively long period for the development of novel cultivars compared with other ornamental crops, RDA breed four cultivars, including ‘Beauty Princess,’ until in 2003 and then had been bred 51 novel cultivars by 2017. In addition, Chisan Agricultural Association Corporation (Chisan AAC) bred 26 novel cultivars, such as ‘Pinklace,’ with the support of RDA from 2008 to 2015. Such cultivars were distributed to farms and sold at wholesale flower markets, such as the aT Flower Marketing Center (aT FMC) of the Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation, as potted plants or cut flowers. Therefore, farmers have recently acknowledged the improvement of domestic cultivars. An investigation of cymbidium sold as potted plants at the aT FMC from 2009 to 2017 revealed that 21 of 51 RDA cultivars and 7 of 26 Chisan AAC cultivars were sold during 1 to within 5 years. The number of domestic cultivar potted plants sold per year ranged from 2,568 to 5,693 except in 2010 and 2015, which represents 1.5% - 2.1% of all the cymbidium. The prices of domestic cultivars with two, three, and four flower stalks, which accounted for 65.2% - 97.6% of all the cymbidium, were lower at the highest price, higher at average price, and much higher at the lowest price than the prices of foreign cultivars with similar flower stalk numbers. The sales of cymbidium potted plants at other wholesale flower markets, such as Korea flower agriculture corporative, needs to be investigated. Overall, the results of the study suggest that domestic cultivars are not inferior in value compared with foreign cultivars.

Toluene is an industrial raw material and solvent that can be found abundantly in our daily life products. The amount of toluene vapor is one of the most important measurements for evaluating air quality. The evaluation of toluene scavenging ability of different plants has been reported, but the mechanism of plant response to toluene is only partially understood. In this study, we performed RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis to detect differential gene expression in toluene-treated and untreated leaves of Ardisiapusilla. A total of 88,444 unigenes were identified by RNA-seq analysis, of which 49,623 were successfully annotated and 4101 were differentially expressed. Gene ontology analysis revealed several subcategories of genes related to toluene response, including cell part, cellular process, organelle, and metabolic processes. We mapped the main metabolic pathways of genes related to toluene response and found that the differentially expressed genes were mainly involved in glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, starch and sucrose metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism, carotenoid biosynthesis, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, and flavonoid biosynthesis. In addition, 53 transcription factors belonging to 13 transcription factor families were identified. We verified 10 differentially expressed genes related to metabolic pathways using quantitative real-time PCR and found that the results of RNA-seq were positively correlated with them, indicating that the transcriptome data were reliable. This study provides insights into the metabolic pathways involved in toluene response in plants.

Cultivation of C3 and C4 crops in semi-arid regions will be severely constrained as global temperatures rise. Consequently, alternative crops need to be sought out that adapt well to heat and drought and are productive despite limited access to water. Traits, such as crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), enable economically important species such as those in the Agave genus adapt to drought and high temperatures. The succulence and high efficiency of agaves, which enables them to produce biomass with little water, underscores their feasibility as an alternative crop for semi-arid regions, such as the Sonoran Desert in the southwestern U.S. In this paper, we offer a review of the suitability for cultivation of agaves via dryland farming, particularly by rock mulching techniques used by pre-Columbian, Sonoran Desert farmers. This analysis dovetails with information also provided on the biological traits of Agave and its historical and present utilization. Pre-Columbian, Hohokam dryland farmers used rock mulching in the form of rock piles to cultivate agaves. Rock piles acted as a type of mulch to harvest rainfall and to retain soil moisture, which allowed the Hohokam to intensively cultivate agaves during multi-year droughts. Remains of Hohokam rock mulching for agave production can be found at archaeological sites in central Arizona, which provides evidence of the utility of dryland farming and ancient agricultural innovation to reconcile water scarcity in the region. Moreover, the use of rock piles likely bolstered Agave productivity in marginal lands. Although little is known of historic rock mulching to cultivate agaves and its biological implications on plant productivity we suggest its application as a dryland farming model could be a sustainable strategy in the U.S. Southwest.

Biotechnological approaches have been used to modify the floral color, size, and fragrance of ornamental plants, as well as to increase disease resistance and vase life. Together with the advancement of whole genome sequencing technologies, new plant breeding techniques have rapidly emerged in recent years. Compared to the early versions of gene editing tools, such as meganucleases (MNs), zinc fingers (ZFNs), and transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) is capable of altering a genome more efficiently and with higher accuracy. Most recently, new CRISPR systems, including base editors and prime editors, confer reduced off-target activity with improved DNA specificity and an expanded targeting scope. However, there are still controversial issues worldwide for the recognition of genome-edited plants, including whether genome-edited plants are genetically modified organisms and require a safety evaluation process. In the current review, we briefly summarize the current progress in gene editing systems and also introduce successful/representative cases of the CRISPR system application for the improvement of ornamental plants with desirable traits. Furthermore, potential challenges and future prospects in the use of genome-editing tools for ornamental plants are also discussed.

Orchids are one of the most significant plants that have ecologically adapted to every habitat on earth. Orchids show a high level of variation in their floral morphologies, which makes them popular as ornamental plants in the global market. Floral scent and color are key traits for many floricultural crops. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) play vital roles in pollinator attraction, defense, and interaction with the environment. Recent progress in omics technology has led to the isolation of genes encoding candidate enzymes responsible for the biosynthesis and regulatory circuits of plant VOCs. Uncovering the biosynthetic pathways and regulatory mechanisms underlying the production of floral scents is necessary not only for a better understanding of the function of relevant genes but also for the generation of new cultivars with desirable traits through molecular breeding approaches. However, little is known about the pathways responsible for floral scents in orchids because of their long life cycle as well as the complex and large genome; only partial terpenoid pathways have been reported in orchids. Here, we review the biosynthesis and regulation of floral volatile compounds in orchids. In particular, we focused on the genes responsible for volatile compounds in various tissues and developmental stages in Cymbidium orchids. We also described the emission of orchid floral volatiles and their function in pollination ecology. Taken together, this review will provide a broad scope for the study of orchid floral scents.

The Phalaenopsis cultivar ‘Blanc Rouse’ was bred by the National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science (Wanju-gun, Korea) in 2013. The ‘Blanc Rouse’ cultivar was derived from a cross between the miniature cultivar P. ‘KV 600’ and P. ‘Kang 1’ in 2007. In total, 182 seedlings were planted and cultivated in a greenhouse. In 2010, one line was selected on the basis of performance for traits such as flower color, plant height, leaf shape, flower stalk length, and vigorous growth; this line was given the line code “07-003-164.” A second set of analyses was carried out on the selected line with respect to cultivation characteristics and uniformity tests at farms at three different sites in Korea. This hybrid had white-colored petals (WN155A), a purple-violet lip (PVN80B), and small-sized flowers. ‘Blanc Rouse’ produces approximately 39.4 flowers per flower stalk and two flower stalks per plant. The average flower stalk length is 43.5 cm. The general impression of the petals and sepals is that they exhibit a flat shape. It has an early-blooming habit that starts in late November under optimal culture conditions. The leaves of ‘Blanc Rouse’ grow horizontally and are approximately 17.3 cm in length and 6.2 cm in width. This cultivar possesses no genetic variation and is amenable to fast in vitro propagation and easy cultivation management because of its vigorous habit and diseases resistance.

This study investigated the effects of temperature on vegetative growth and flowering in Sophrolaeliocattleya ‘Red Doll’ and ‘Grace’. Plants were grown at constant temperatures of 8, 13, 18, or 23°C for 12 weeks in environmentally controlled growth chambers. Photosynthetic efficiency was measured four weeks after the start of the temperature treatment. The shoot length, leaf length, leaf width, and the number of new shoots increased in plants from both cultivars that were grown at 18 and 23°C, respectively; whereas the number of days to visible buds and flowering were reduced compared to plants grown at 8 and 13°C. The number of flowering florets and the flower diameter were greater in plants grown at 18 and 23°C than at 8 and 13°C. High photosynthetic efficiency was observed in plants grown at 23°C, which was measured as increased PSII quantum yield, photochemical quenching, and electron transport rate; and decreased non-photochemical quenching. These results indicate that temperatures of 18-23°C promote growth and stimulate earlier production of high-quality flowers in Sophrolaeliocattleya.

Floral scent plays a vital role in reproduction, including attracting pollinators to ensure that fertilization occurs in several plants. In addition, floral scents are widely applied in perfumes, flavors, cosmetics and medicinal substances. Floral scents mediate ecological interactions and have a primary function of attracting visitors and pollinators. Due to the importance of floral scents in plant biology, basic research on flora scent through breeding technology or applications of biotechnology in is still needed. In plants, floral volatile organic compounds (VOC) are categorized into terpenoids, phenylpropanoids/benzenoids and fatty acid derivatives. Several transcription factors are involved in secondary metabolite pathways, including floral scents. Transcriptional regulation of these biosynthesis pathways involves V-myb myeloblastosis viral oncogene homolog (MYB) protein transcription factors, which play a prominent role in flowers. However, little is known about the transcriptional regulation of floral scent biosynthesis. Thus far, the engineering of the metabolic pathways responsible for producing floral scents has mainly focused on the final steps of volatile compound generation. In this review, we summarize recent research on the importance and emission of floral scents and emphasize the role of the identified MYB transcription factors in regulating floral volatile metabolism.

Cymbidium is one of the most important genera of flowering plants in the Orchidaceae family, and comprises a wide variety of beautiful and colorful species. Among these, only a few species possess floral scents and flavors. In order to increase the availability of a new Cymbidum hybrid, &ldquo, Sunny Bell&rdquo, this study investigated the volatile floral scents. Volatiles of the floral organs of the new Cymbidium hybrid, &ldquo, at the full-flowering stage were characterized with headspace solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) analysis. A divinylbenzene-carboxen-polydimethylsiloxane (DVB-CAR-PDMS) fiber gave the best extraction for volatile components. Twenty-three components were identified as the main volatiles for the floral organs of the new Cymbidium hybrid, &ldquo, at the full-flowering stage, twelve compounds in the column, sixteen compounds in the labellum, eleven compounds in the sepals, and nine compounds in the petals were identified. Terpenes are the major source of floral scents in this plant. As a result of GC-MS analysis, the most abundant compound was linalool (69&ndash, 80%) followed by &alpha, pinene (3&ndash, 27%), 4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene (5&ndash, 18%), eucalyptol (6&ndash, 16%), and 2,6-dimethylnonane (2&ndash, 16%). The main components were identified as monoterpenes in the petals and sepals, and as monoterpenes and aliphatics in the column and labellum. The results of this study provide a basis for breeding Cymbidium cultivars which exhibit desirable floral scents.

Background Cymbidium goeringii belongs to the Orchidaceae, which is one of the most abundant angiosperm families. Cymbidium goeringii consist with high economic value and characteristics include fragrance and multiple flower colors. Floral scent is one of the important strategies for ensuring fertilization. However, limited genetic data is available in this non-model plant, and little known about the molecular mechanism responsible for floral scent in this orchid. Transcriptome and expression profiling data are needed to identify genes and better understand the biological mechanisms of floral scents in this species. Present transcriptomic data provides basic information on the genes and enzymes related to and pathways involved in flower secondary metabolism in this plant. Results In this study, RNA sequencing analyses were performed to identify changes in gene expression and biological pathways related scent metabolism. Three cDNA libraries were obtained from three developmental floral stages: closed bud, half flowering stage and full flowering stage. Using Illumina technique 159,616,374 clean reads were obtained and were assembled into 85,868 final unigenes (average length 1194 nt), 33.85% of which were annotated in the NCBI non redundant protein database. Among this unigenes 36,082 were assigned to gene ontology and 23,164 were combined with COG groups. Total 33,417 unigenes were assigned in 127 pathways according to the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway database. According these transcriptomic data we identified number of candidates genes which differentially expressed in different developmental stages of flower related to fragrance biosynthesis. In q-RT-PCR most of the fragrance related genes highly expressed in half flowering stage. Conclusions RNA-seq and DEG data provided comprehensive gene expression information at the transcriptional level that could be facilitate the molecular mechanisms of floral biosynthesis pathways in three developmental phase’s flowers in Cymbidium goeringii, moreover providing useful information for further analysis on C. goeringii, and other plants of genus Cymbidium. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12870-019-1940-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The objective of this study was to identify the main floral scents and their relative contents in the floral organ of Nelumbo nucifera. N. nucifera flower, a traditional Chinese medicinal herb, is rich in volatile compounds. In this study, the volatile components of N. nucifera flowers were investigated by headspace solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for each organ of the flower: petals, sepals, pistils, and stamens. In total, we identified 39 compounds, among which aliphatics were major constituents, representing more than 94% of petals and sepals volatiles, followed by sesquiterpenes representing more than 69% of pistils and stamens volatiles. Pentadecane, 1-pentadecene, 8-hexadecyne, 8-heptadecene, and β-caryophyllene characterize the scent of the N. nucifera flower. We identified 24 volatiles in petals and sepals, 25 volatiles in pistils, and 18 volatiles in stamens. Among the monoterpenes, 3-Isopropylidene-4-methylcyclohexene, isoterpinolene, p-Menth-2-en-7-ol, and methyl 2,6,6- trimethylcyclohex-1-enecarboxylate were analyzed and identified for the first time from the N. nucifera flower. This study demonstrates that N. nucifera flowers differ greatly in volatile composition depending on the floral organ of the plant.

The present study investigated the floral scent pattern and intensity of the floral organs in various species and cultivars of Maxillaria at different flowering stages using an electronic nose with 6 metal oxide sensors. The scents of species and cultivars showed various patterns overall, especially that of M. tenuifolia. The scent patterns of cultivars derived from M. variabillis formed a clustere that differed greatly from the origin M. variabillis. In M. tenuifolia, the scent pattern differed by stage, and was strongest at the initial flowering stage. Each floral organ showed different scent patterns; the sepal emitted the strong scent of all floral organs. This study establishes baseline data for the analysis scent of Maxillaria scents and for breeding aromatic orchids.

Plant transformation technology (or genetic modification), along with breeding techniques such as cross-breeding and mutation breeding, has been widely used for breeding new varieties and enhancing the characteristics of floricultural plants. In particular, genetically modified (GM) floriculture has been developed for modified characteristics such as floral color, pigmentation, stress tolerance, disease resistance, and fragrance. In South Korea, studies on GM floriculture have been under progress since the 2000s, and there have been various research projects involving GM floriculture. In the global flower market, a mauve-colored carnation called “MoondustTM” was first developed and commercialized by the Australian biotechnology company Florigene, and a blue rose called “APPLAUSETM” was developed and commercialized by the Japanese company SUNTORY. Furthermore, new varieties of GM floriculture have recently been developed, and international trade in ornamental plant materials has grown. Given the rapid increase of studies on GM floriculture and the growing global market for GM ornamental plants, biotechnology may be used to increase farm household income by developing new ornamental varieties that have superior characteristics and match consumer preferences. In t his review, we summarize t he r esearch on G M ornamental plants during the last four years. This information will help in establishing more successful strategies for developing GM floriculture. Moreover, this report will facilitate the breeding of new and improved varieties with modified growth rates and superior product quality, including changes in flower color, fragrance, and stress tolerance.

The aims of this study were to compare genetic distances among 14 Phalaenopsis varieties using simple sequence repeat (SSR) and sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) marker systems and to determine the discrimination using SSR. A total of 111 SSR primers and 30 SRAP combinations were initially screened. Twelve SSR primers and thirty SRAP combinations showed high polymorphism among the 14 Phalaenopsis varieties including domestic breeding varieties, conserved in National Institute of Horticultural & Herbal Science (NIHHS). The amplified DNA fragments were separated by denaturing acrylamide gels and detected by silver staining method. A total of 474 polymorphic bands, including 55 by SSRs and 419 by SRAPs, were identified and used for genetic diversity analysis. Polymorphic bands were scored for calculating a simple matching coefficient of genetic similarity and cluster analysis with multi-variate statistical package (MVSP) 3.1. Fourteen Phalaenopsis varieties were classified into three major groups at similarity coefficient value of 0.683 and 0.66 using SRAP and SSR, respectively. Also we could discriminate these domestic breeding Palaenopsis varieties using only SSR 20 and SSR 22. The results indicate that SSR analysis is effective for discrimination among Phalaenopsis varieties and SRAP is useful for genetic diversity when there is no sequence information. These studied SSR and SRAP markers will be useful tools for genotype identification, germplasm conservation and genetic relationship study in Phalaenopsis.

A new grafted cactus cultivar, called 'Hwangseon', Gymnocalycium mihanovichii, is a hybrid crossed between two orange color cultivars 'Geoseong' and 'Huhwang'. Mating was performed in the greenhouse of National Institute of Horticultural & Herbal Science (NIHHS) in 2005. The harvested seeds were sown at 100 mL volumetric flasks filled with 'Kyoto' medium. Seedling had been grafted into a young rootstock, Hylocereus trigonus, and cultured in vitro in 100 mL test tube for more than six months. After re-grafting and planting in the green house in 2006, their characteristics were evaluated three times until 2009. The new cultivar has a flat round shape and bright yellow skin color. In addition, it has 7 to 9 ribs with gray and straight spines on the body and produces an average of 12.3 offsets.