Mendel Biotechnology Patents
Patent applications for Arabidopsis bulk sequences made by Mendel Biotechnology Inc.
The following is an example of one of the 11 patent documents identified as belonging to Mendel Biotechnology Inc. The ‘927 application is discussed here for the following reasons:
- It involves a large group of Arabidopsis sequences (i.e. a bulk sequence claim),
- deals with a specific class of target sequences that are likely to have numerous applications across many flowering plant species (of interest to many), and
- demonstrates Mendel’s stated strategy of targeting transcription factors (TFs) from Arabidopsis (strategic IP?)
(Note that this patent application contains by far the most sequence claims compared to other applications. Note also that there are ~1800 TFs in the Arabidopsis genome and there are >1900 SEQ IDs listed in this application alone! Hence this application is likely to be a significant patent application with respect to TFs for many plant species.)
| Patent or Publication No. | Title, Independent Claims and Summary | Applicant | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US 2004/0019927 A1
THIS IS NOT A GRANTED |
Title – Polynucleotides and polypeptides in plants
The claims are generally drawn to:
A transgenic plant comprising the SEQ IDs listed above, including polynucleotides as in (a), transcription factors with conservative substitutions from (a), transcription factors at least 80% identical to (a) or (b), orthologous or paralogs at least 80% identical to (a) or (b), polynucleotides containing conserved domains at least 80% identical to conserved domains in (a) or (b), and polynucleotides that hybridise to those in (a) or (b) under stringent conditions.
An expression cassette comprising, a promoter of (1) above, and containing a polynucleotide [as described above for claim 1]
This time the claim is towards a method for producing a modified plant comprising a polynucleotide [as described above for claim 1] The claims above are defined with reference to the sequences defined by SEQ ID numbers. One interesting question here is the degree to which an examiner is able to effectively search for prior art. It is not unreasonable to expect that the details of one or more transcription factors having at least 80% identical sequence to one or more of the SEQ IDs above may already be published in the literature or in another patent document. |
Original Applicant: Mendel Biotechnology, Inc. , 21375 Cabot Blvd., Hayward, CA, 94545, For information concerning this application, we would suggest contacting either: MATTHEW KASER Mendel Biotechnology, Inc. , or: Dr. William Goure, |
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| Remarks | Again, as with the Paradigm patent applications mentioned above, it is unlikely that this application would result in a single granted patent for all of these sequence claims. However, through numerous additional applications (continuations, CIPs and divisionals) it is entirely possible that any of the sequences listed may evolve into separate applications and may eventually be granted as patents. Such a process may take many years. | ||||
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Other interesting Mendel Biotechnology Inc. patent documents include |
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| Document |
Title |
DNA Sequences Claimed |
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| US2003/0093837A1 | Polynucleotides for seed trait alteration | 74 | |||
| US2004/0101481A1 | Plant gene sequences I | 85 | |||
| US2003/0131386A1 | Stress-induced polynucleotides | 111 | |||
| US2003/0229915A1 | Plant gene sequences II | 104 | |||
| US2003/0233670A1 | Gene sequences and uses thereof in plants | 368 | |||
| WO01/35725A1 | Yield-related genes |
35 | |||
| WO02/15675A1 | Genes for modifying plant traits IV |
232 | |||
