Synopsis

Antibiotic Resistance Genes Technology Landscape Paper

Antibiotic resistance genes are widely used as selectable markers because they are highly efficient, economical and straightforward. Therefore, they are considered a very valuable tool at experimental and commercial research levels.

As with many enabling technologies, these are proprietary technologies in the hands of few entities. The scope of patent protection ranges from the very broadly claimed use of any antibiotic resistance gene in plant transformation to the more restrictive use of particular antibiotic resistance systems in conjunction with particular promoters and selective agents.

The present paper analyses the extent of patent protection on

• the use of any antibiotic resistance gene , mainly for plant transformation
• the most commonly used antibiotic resistance marker genes: neomycin phosphotransferase (npt) and hygromycin phosphotransferase (hpt).

A summary of the information contained within this paper is presented in the following table. A total of six different entities holding 21 patents are part of the analysis. The table provides a listing of the entities having patents on this field, the patent document number and a brief description of the invention claimed in the analysed patents.

* This European patent document corresponds to a patent application. The rest of the patent documents that appear in the table are granted patents. The latest status of the patent documents was checked in August 2002.