Advances in the knowledge of plant pigment pathways at genetic, biochemical and molecular levels, and the establishment of genetic transformation methods for an increasing number of plant species have paved the way to genetic engineering of flower and plant color for ornamental purposes. From trial-and-error approaches based on the available few genes, the trend is now to comprehensively study the target species, genotypes and pigment pathways to precisely address specific breeding goals. This review examines the state of the art in this field, from the pioneering stages to fundamental and applied research on flavonoids, which is being extended to carotenoids and is also likely to involve other pigments in the near future. © 2006 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

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