Patent ID: 8293976

Claim:
A method of increasing the level of alpha tocotrienol, beta-tocotrienol, or both, in a plant, comprising: stably incorporating into a plant genome: (a) a first recombinant nucleic acid molecule comprising at least one regulatory sequence operably linked to at least one nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of: (i) the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:15; (ii) a nucleotide sequence encoding the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:16; and (iii) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence of at least 95% sequence identity, based on the Clustal V method of alignment, when compared to SEQ ID NO:16, wherein the polypeptide has gammatocopherol methyltransferase activity; (b) a second recombinant nucleic acid molecule comprising at least one regulatory sequence operably linked to at least one nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of: (iv) the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:1; (v) a nucleotide sequence encoding the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:2; and (vi) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence of at least 95% sequence identity, based on the Clustal V method of alignment, when compared to SEQ ID NO:2, wherein the polypeptide has homogentisate geranylgeranyl transferase activity; and (c) a third recombinant nucleic acid molecule comprising at least one regulatory sequence operably linked to at least one nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of: (vii) the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:53; (viii) a nucleotide sequence encoding the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:54; and (ix) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence of at least 95% sequence identity, based on the Clustal V method of alignment, when compared to SEQ ID NO:54, wherein the polypeptide has 2-methyl-6-phytylbenzoquinol methyltransferase activity; and selecting a transformed plant that expresses the nucleotide sequence of the first recombinant nucleic acid molecule, the nucleotide sequence of the second recombinant nucleic acid molecule, and the nucleotide sequence of the third recombinant molecule wherein said transformed plant has an increased level of alpha-tocotrienol, beta-tocotrienol, or both, relative to a plant with a similar genetic background but lacking said first recombinant nucleic acid molecule, said second recombinant nucleic acid molecule, and said third recombinant nucleic acid molecule.