Overview and detectability of the genetic modifications in ornamental plants

The market of ornamental plants is extremely competitive, and for many species genetic engineering can be used to introduce original traits of high commercial interest. However, very few genetically modified (GM) ornamental varieties have reached the market so far. Indeed, the authorization process required for such plants has a strong impact on the profitability of the development of such products. Considering the numerous scientific studies using genetic modification on ornamental species of interest, a lot of transformed material has been produced, could be of commercial interest and could therefore be unintentionally released on the market. The unintentional use of GM petunia in breeding programs has indeed recently been observed. This review lists scientific publications using GM ornamental plants and tries to identify whether these plants could be detected by molecular biology tools commonly used by control laboratories.