Soybean sublines G94-1, G94-19 and G168 have been developed in an effort to<br> improve the quality of oil derived from soybean seed by increasing their oleic acid<br> content.  Sublines G94-1, G94-19 and G168 are homozygous for the coding region of<br> the GmFad2-1 gene isolated from Glycine max in the sense orientation under the<br> control of a seed-specific promoter.  The introduction of GmFad2-1 causes a<br> coordinate silencing, or sense suppression, of itself and the endogenous GmFad2-1<br> gene resulting in a soybean whose oil has an oleic acid content that exceeds 80%. <br> Conventional soybeans have an oleic acid content of 24%.  The GmFad2-1 gene<br> encodes for a seed-specific delta-12 desaturase that is involved in the synthesis of<br> polyunsaturated fatty acids in developing seeds.  In addition, sublines G94-1, G94-19<br> and G168 have been genetically modified to contain two other genes, which are present<br> but not expressed in the plant.  The beta-glucuronidase (uidA) gene from Escherichia<br> coli, serves as a reporter gene, allowing the selection of transformed plants in the<br> laboratory.   The  ampicillin resistance gene, beta-lactamase (bla) from Escherichia coli<br> is used for selection when the construct is in E. coli cells.   Neither the uidA gene nor<br> the bla genes are expressed in the soybean sublines under review.  The original<br> transformant also contained the dapA gene from the bacterium Corynebacterium<br> glutanicum, encoding dihydrodipicolinic acid synthase, expression of which can lead to<br> an increase in free lysine content.  The dapA gene was inserted independently from the<br> GmFad2-1 gene and was lost via segregation, and is thus not present in the subject<br> soybean lines.  The genes were introduced into the parent soybean line (Asgrow<br> A2396) via the particle bombardment technique that results in direct introduction of<br> genes into the plant genome.