Transgenic Ornamental Crops - Transgenic Horticultural Crops: Challenges and Opportunities - page 75

uniied.in.that.negative.environmental.and.health.effects.want.to.be.avoided..A.cen-
tralized,.international.resource,.known.as.the.Cartagena.Protocol.on.Biosafety.(CPB),.
has.been.developed.for.promoting.the.safe.handling.and.use.of.GMOs.internationally.
(http://www.cbd.int/biosafety/).. However,. the. protocol. is. still. being. developed. and.
ratiied.by.many.countries.and.countries.such.as.the.United.States.and.Australia.are.
not.yet.contributing.to.the.development.of.this.centralized.protocol.
Continued.consumer.education,.outreach,.and.perception.assessment.are.impor-
tant.avenues.to.continue.pursuit.of.making.commercialization.of.ornamental.GMOs.
worthwhile..Reports.indicate.that.consumer.perception.of.GMOs.is.mixed,.but.most.
surveys.are.conducted.with.regard.to.the.presence.of.GMOs.in.food.and.not.ornamen-
tal.plants..A.survey.of.master.gardeners.revealed.that.∼73%.of.survey.respondents.
expressed. interest. in. purchasing. a. GM. plant. product. for. the. garden. 146 . This. said,.
there.were.also.clear.opinions.regarding.how.different.sources.of.transgenes.affected.
acceptability.of.the.GMO,.with.plant-derived.transgenes.being.more.acceptable.than.
those.derived.from.bacteria,.fungus,.virus.or.animal.sources..Respondents.were.also.
neutral. about. the. effect. of. landscape. GMOs.. This. latter. point. should. be. empha-
sized. in. education. programs. since. many. applications. of. biotechnology. will. result.
in.decreased.water.use,.decreased.fossil.fuel.use,.and.decreased.chemical.use,.all.of.
which. would. have. positive. effects. on. our. environment.. For. example,. Redenbaugh.
and.McHughen 132 .cite.data.showing.declining.pesticide.sales.with.increased.sales.of.
biotech-based.varieties.of.plants.
Ornamental.biotechnology.will.clearly.beneit.from.the.evolution.of.newly.devel-
oping. DNA. sequencing. technologies.. New. sequencing. technologies. including. 454.
sequencing. and. real. time. single. molecule. long. read. sequencing. soon. to. be. com-
mercialized, 147 .will.make.it.possible.to.quickly.have.genome.data.for.most.species.
of. interest. at. very. low. costs.. The. limitation. will. no. longer. be. on. sequence. avail-
ability.but.rather.on.data.management.and.data.mining..The.availability.of.genome.
data.will.facilitate.discovery.of.regulatory.elements.that.will.be.useful.for.delivering.
more.precise.transgene.expression.patterns.in.plants,.rapidly.progress.the.discovery.
of.enzymes.involved.in.important.biotechnological.applications,.and.make.develop-
ment.of.transgenic.ornamental.plants.more.economically.feasible.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The.authors.thank.Dr..Thomas.A..Colquhoun.for.critical.reading.of.the.manuscript.and.
Dr..Bart.Schutzman.for.assistance.with.igure.preparation.

REFERENCES
. 1.. Jerardo,. A.,. Floriculture and Nursery Crops Handbook ,. USDA. ERS. Report.

September.2007.

. 2.. Clark,.D.G.,.Applications.of.plant.biotechnology.to.ornamental.crops,.in. Handbook of

Plant Biotechnology ,.Vol..II,.Cristou,.P..and.Klee,.H.,.Eds.,.John.Wiley.&.Sons,.Ltd.,.
West.Sussex,.U.K.,.2004,.pp..863-879.

. 3.. Shibuya,. K.. and. Clark,. D.G.,. Ethylene:. Current. status. and. future. directions. using.

transgenic. plants. to. improve. lower. longevity. of. ornamental. crops,. J. Crop Improv ..
18,.391,.2006.