Ornamental horticulture, and particularly floriculture, is
well suited to the application of genetic engineering technology
because the end product is not a food (Chandler and
Lu 2005). Genetic transformation has commenced to be
applied to floricultural crops for modifying flower color,
plant height, increasing flower longevity and introducing
herbicide tolerance or disease resistance (Deroles et al.
2002). Orchids (Orchidaceae, L.) are the largest and most
diverse family of flowering plants and consist of more than
800 genera and 30,000 species, of which many are grown
commercially worldwide (Arditti 1992). Oncidium Gower
Ramsey is commercially important cultivated as cut flowers
and pot plants around the world due to their beautiful
flowers. The flower lip is ornamental organ, predominant
yellower and wave like the skirt of the dancing girl, petals
and sepals were similar, smaller and more mosaic red
pigmentation than the lip. Its beautiful petals and attractive
colors are the important element contributing to its economic
value as a cut flower. Consequently, considerable
effort is now being made to improve the economic traits of
this ornamental plant. Genetic transformation is now
expected to be a tool for introducing traits such as flowering
time and flower color, shape and longevity, disease
resistance, and tolerance to temperature stress in orchids
which has been difficult through conventional breeding
techniques based on sexual crossing. However, traditional
breeding processes aimed at genetic modification are limited
by the long reproductive cycle and slow seed
earlier, produced more flowers and pseudobulbs than nontransgenic
plants. The flower organ conversions were not
observed in 35S::OMADS1 transgenic flowers of Oncidium.
This is the first report on the ectopic expression of
MADS box gene in O. Gower Ramsey using a simple and
efficient gene transfer protocol.