The present invention provides isolated nucleic acid molecules encoding wheatstarch synthases, and probes and primers derived therefrom, which are usefulin the modificaiton of plant starch content and/or composition, and forscreening plant lines to determine the presence of natural and/or inducedmutations in starch synthase genes which affect starch content and/orcomposition. More particularly, the isolated nucleic acid molecules of thepresent invention further provide for the screening-assisted breeding ofplants having desirable starch content and/or composition, in addition toproviding for the direct genetic manipulation of plant starch content and/orcomposition.
