Genetic basis for natural variation in seed vitamin E levels in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Vitamin E is an essential nutrient for humans and is obtained primarily from food, especially oil, derived from the seed of plants. Genes encoding the committed steps in vitamin E synthesis in plants (VTE, loci 1-5) have been isolated and used for tocopherol pathway engineering with various degrees of success. As a complement to such approaches we have used quantitative trait loci analysis with two sets of Arabidopsis thaliana recombinant inbred lines and have identified 14 QVE (quantitative vitamin E) loci affecting tocopherol content and composition in seeds.