Patent ID: 7906710

Claim:
A plant, the genome of which includes introduced DNA comprising: DNA encoding a polypeptide having 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-Coenzyme A reductase enzyme activity, wherein said plant contains an elevated level of total accumulated sterol, compared to an otherwise identical plant, the genome of which does not comprise said introduced DNA encoding a polypeptide having 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-Coenzyme A reductase enzyme activity; and further comprising introduced DNA encoding at least one polypeptide having steroid pathway enzyme activity selected from the group consisting of squalene epoxidase enzyme activity, sterol methyl transferase I enzyme activity, sterol C4-demethylase enzyme activity, obtusifoliol C14α-demethylase enzyme activity, sterol C5-desaturase enzyme activity, and sterol methyl transferase II enzyme activity, wherein said introduced DNAs are operatively linked to regulatory signals that cause seed-specific expression of said introduced DNAs, and wherein seeds of said plant contain a reduced level of squalene, cycloartenol, 24-methylene cycloartenol, obtusifoliol, stigmasta-7-enol, or campesterol compared to the seeds of an otherwise identical plant whose genome does not contain introduced DNA encoding said at least one polypeptide having steroid pathway enzyme activity.