Roses these days do not smell as sweet as they used to. Scientists found that there are more than 400 chemicals in roses that contribute to their fragrance, which alcohols being the most common. One specific type of alcohol, called monoterpenes, is the most important one that makes roses smell good. Researchers compared the genes of roses that that smell sweet (roses from the past) to ones that do not smell as sweet (present day roses). They found that the enzyme that makes monoterpenes are different in the two types, and that there is a new gene present that has caused them to be less fragrant. Now, they can modify the DNA of the roses to produce more of that enzyme to make them smell sweeter.
I found this information pretty interesting because I always knew flowers stereotypically smelt good, but whenever I smelt them, I never cared for the smell. Maybe this is why. However, I do believe this type of research is kind of pointless because does it really matter how sweet flowers smell? Unless the roses' change in smell is affecting the ecosystem in some way, I find this study unneccessary.
In the related article that I posted, it talks about how when flowers are less fragrant, it makes it harder for pollinating bugs to find them. Therefore, the ecosystem is affected in some way, so this research is in fact important.
This is really neat! I never knew that roses were genetically modified to smell good. I guess I'm also one of the people who thought that they naturally smelled good. I wouldn't say that this is pointless; many people do enjoy roses that smell good. Also, it just shows that we can accomplish a lot with modern day science.
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