During de novo fatty acid synthesis in sunflower seeds, saturated fatty acid production is influenced by the competition between the enzymes of the principal pathways and the saturated acyl-ACP thioesterases. Genetic backgrounds with more efficient saturated acyl-ACP thioesterase alleles only express their phenotypic effects when the alleles for the enzymes in the main pathway are less efficient. For this reason, we studied the incorporation of [2-(14)C]acetate into the lipids of developing sunflower seeds (Helianthus annuus L.) from several mutant lines in vivo. The labelling of different triacylglycerol fatty acids in different oilseed mutants reflects the fatty acid composition of the seed and supports the channelling theory of fatty acid biosynthesis. Incubation with methyl viologen diminished the conversion of stearoyl-ACP to oleoyl-ACP in vivo through a decrease in the available reductant power. In turn, this led to the accumulation of stearoyl-ACP to the levels detected in seeds from high stearic acid mutants. The concomitant reduction of oleoyl-ACP content inside the plastid allowed us to study the activity of acyl-ACP thioesterases on saturated fatty acids. In these mutants, we verified that the accumulation of saturated fatty acids requires efficient thioesterase activity on saturated-ACPs. By studying the effects of cerulenin on the in vivo incorporation of [2-(14)C]acetate into lipids and on the in vitro activity of beta-ketoacyl-ACP synthase II, we found that elongation to very long chain fatty acids can occur both inside and outside of the plastid in sunflower seeds.