Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) consists of high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids, making its oil susceptible to oxidation. Tocopherols can retard or prevented oxidation. The aim of this study is to determine the phenotypic tocopherol (vitamin E) composition and genetic diversity of the biosynthetic pathway genes. Seeds were characterized for fatty acid and tocopherol content. A positive correlation was found between oleic acid, γ (r =0.17) and δ (r =0.23) tocopherol but none between linoleic acid and all four tocopherol derivatives. Vitamin E gene homologues were identified and a concomitant pathway constructed, with genes of interest sequenced to determine their genetic variation. A sunflower gene database was developed for these genes and used to obtain 489 SNPs and 145 indels from the accessions evaluated. Only 139 of these SNPs were located in the exon regions of the gene candidates. These exon-based SNPs may influence tocopherol flow through possible enzyme structural modifications / School of Agriculture and Life Sciences / M. Sc. (Life Sciences)