Patent ID: 8084208

Claim:
A method of identifying a first maize plant or a first maize germplasm that has a phenotype selected from the group consisting of an increased oil content, an increased oleic acid content, an increased oleic acid/linoleic acid ratio, and any combination thereof, comprising detecting in the first maize plant or the first maize germplasm at least one polymorphism of a marker locus that is associated with said phenotype, wherein the marker locus encodes a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of: a) an amino acid sequence having at least 90% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:48, wherein expression of said polypeptide in a plant or plant part thereof increases the oil content or oleic acid content of said plant or plant part, and wherein said polypeptide comprises a phenylalanine residue at the amino acid position corresponding to residue 469 of SEQ ID NO:48; and b) an amino acid sequence comprising a fragment of SEQ ID NO:48 or variant thereof having at least 90% sequence identity to said fragment of SEQ ID NO:48, wherein expression of said polypeptide in a plant or plant part thereof increases the oil content or oleic acid content of said plant or plant part, and wherein said polypeptide comprises a phenylalanine residue at the amino acid position corresponding to residue 469 of SEQ ID NO: 48.