Patent ID: 6849779

Claim:
A method of making corn seeds that produce increased amounts of 10 kDa zein and increased methionine content, comprising the steps of: a) transforming cells of a dzr1 negative dominant allelic corn plant with a vector comprising a chimeric gene encoding a maize 10 kDa zein, wherein the chimeric gene comprises a maize 10 kDa zein coding region operably linked at its 5′ end to a promoter, and at its 3′ end to a heterologous 3′ UTR, wherein the product of the dzr1 negative dominant allele negatively regulates expression of an endogenous maize 10 kDa zein gene, comprising its native 3′ UTR, in said corn plant; b) regenerating from the transformed cells a fertile transgenic corn plant expressing the chimeric gene; and c) producing seeds comprising the dzr1 negative dominant allele from the plant, wherein the seeds express the chimeric gene and produce increased amounts of the 10 kDa zein, thereby increasing methionine content of said seed.