On the cover: The rose, that most beloved flower, is not available in blue to violet despite thousands of years of hybridisation. Rose lacks the pigment delphinidin, due to the absence of a key gene on the anthocyanidin biosynthesis pathway, flavonoid 3', 5'-hydroxylase (F3'5'H).
In this issue, Katsumoto et al. (1589-1600) describe bluish rose flowers expressing a pansy F3'5'H gene in which 95% of the accumulated anthocyanidin is delphinidin. Exclusive accumulation of delphinidin and a bluer color hue was obtained when an additional modification was made, replacing endogenous dihydroflavonol 4-reductase activity with that from a different species. For rose breeding, the future now looks far more colorful.
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