Transgenic plants with altered levels of phenolic compounds

An expression construct for preparing a plant with altered levels of one or more phenolic compounds of the phenylpropanid pathway of the plant comprising:

• a) a DNA molecule comprising a sequence which encodes an antisense RNA comprising a sequence which is complementary to at least 115 consecutive nucleotides in an RNA that encodes SEQ ID NO.2.;
• and
• b) a promoter for regulating transcription of said DNA molecule, said promoter being operably linked to said antisense RNA encoding sequence.

An expression construct that, when contained in a plant cell, generates RNA which is sufficiently complementary to an RNA transcribed from an endogenous ZmMyb-IF35 gene to prevent synthesis of endogenous ZmMyb-IF35 protein in the plant cell, wherein said expression construct comprises the reverse transcript of said complementary RNA operably linked to a promoter which effects its transcription into said complementary RNA, and wherein said endogenous ZmMyb-IF35 protein comprises a sequence which comprises amino acid 1 through amino acid 345 of SEQ ID NO. 2.

An expression construct for preparing a plant with altered levels of one or more phenolic compounds of the phenylpropanid pathway of the plant comprising

• a) a DNA molecule comprising a sequence which encodes a ZmMyb-IF35 sense RNA and a sequence which encodes a ZmMyb-IF35 antisense RNA, and a linker which links the ZmMyb-IF35 sense RNA encoding sequence to the ZmMyb-IF35 antisense RNA encoding sequence;
• and
• b) a promoter for regulating transcription of said DNA molecule, said promoter being operably linked to the ZmMyb-IF35 sense RNA encoding sequence and the ZmMyb-IF35 antisense RNA encoding sequence.