People commonly give loved ones flowers as gifts whilst they rarely consider how these plants can be so beautiful. Floral nectar is fundamental in the life cycle of both plants and animals which pollinate them. Plants provide nectar to animals, such as bees; in return, the animals transport the pollen to surrounding plants. Nectar consists of a sugar-rich fluid which is composed largely of glucose, fructose and sucrose. There are several disadvantages to the plant which produces this nectar. Some of these issues include the fact that, nectar is quite costly to produce, the sweet sugar produced attracts pathogens as well as pollinators and even if it does successfully get transported by the pollinators, the pollen may not reach the correct plant species for fertilisation to occur. These issues are a reflection of the high complexity in studying the mutual relationship between flowering plants and the animals which pollinate them.
Through the past, scientists have attempted to study the genetics behind nectar without much success. However, recently, there has been a breakthrough. People have developed new technologies which enable scientists to design plants which have genetically modified nectar. These designer plants are then grown in controlled environments and the genetic changes can be observed through these controlled interspecific crosses. The P.intergrifolia produced significantly lower amounts of nectar in controlled laboratory conditions than in the P. axillaris sister species. Such occurrences opens up new opportunities for scientists to study the genetic changes which took place to result in different nectar and plant physiology. Further advances in this field of genetics will definitely answer many questions about the mutual relationship between plants and their pollinators.
