2. Materials and methods
2.1. Plant materials
Roses (Rosa ‘Meivildo’) were harvested at a commercial nurs- ery (Ooi farm) in Shiga Prefecture, Japan at two bud stages (Fig. 1). At the tight bud stage (TB), although their sepals were completely reflected, the petals were not yet unfolding yet. At the mature bud stage (MB), which is 2 days after TB and a commercial harvest- ing stage, the petals had just started unfolding. Cut flowers were transported in a dry, cool condition to the laboratory within a day.