Soybean MON87769 was developed using Agrobacterium tumefaciens transformation with vector PV-GMPQ1972. The genetic modification introduced results in the expression in the seeds of two novel desaturase enzymes intended to modify the lipid profile of the extracted oil.

The plasmid vector PV-GMPQ1972 contains two transfer DNA (T-DNA) regions each delineated by a right and left border region.

The first T-DNA region (T-DNA I) contains two expression cassettes:

• the delta6 desaturase (delta6D) gene expression cassette and
• the fad3 gene expression cassette.

Monsanto states that the second T-DNA (T-DNA II) region contains the cp4 epsps gene expression cassette that encodes the CP4 EPSPS protein. This provides tolerance to the action of the herbicide glyphosate, thereby acting as a selectable marker for transformation.

The use of the two T-DNAs allows for the insertion of the T-DNAs into two independent loci within the genome of the plant. Following selection of the transformants that contain both T-DNAs, T-DNA II was removed by conventional breeding.

Southern analyses indicated that soybean MON87769 contains a single insert with one copy of the intact delta6D and fad3 expression cassettes. No other parts of the plasmid used for transformation are present in the transformed plant. The stability of the inserted DNA was confirmed over several generations and a Mendelian inheritance pattern was demonstrated.