Ornamental plants which have been bred mostly for their visual traits, provide essential oils for perfumes and cosmetics. However, their strong scents are fading over the generations. So, how should we restore their fragrant odors? This, according to scientists, requires a better understanding of the rose scent biosynthesis pathway.
Even until now, most studies of rose fragrance have been focused on a biosynthetic pathway that generates pleasant-smelling alcohols such as monoterpenes, using specific enzymes named terpene synthases. In some of the scientists’ eyes, terpene synthases provides sole route to the production of fragrant monoterpenes in plants.
However, scientists in this new study studied two kinds of roses: Papa Meilland cultivar that smells very strongly and Rogue Meilland cultivar that has little scent. To be specific, they studied the genes of these two cultivars, trying to find the difference. To their surprise, the researchers fount that an enzyme called RhNUDX1 generates the fragrant.
In the scientists’ words in this research, it may be easier for botanists to exploit the RhNUDX1 gene to bring appealing scents back into these iconic flowers.
