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Patents granted to Schilperoort & Hille

Two patents granted to Schilperoort & Hille are related to transformation of dicotyledonous (dicot) plants using stable co-integrated plasmids. The granted patents were obtained in Europe (EP) and in the United States of America (US). The European patent was assigned to the University of Leiden and Prof. Dr. R. Schilperoort.

In general, both patents disclose transformation of dicot plant protoplasts by infecting them with an A. tumefaciens strain containing a stable co-integrated plasmid. The co-integrated plasmid results from the combination of the Ti plasmid pTiB6 and the broad host range plasmid R772. In the European patent, the A. tumefaciens strain used for plant transformation contains a plasmid derived from the co-integrated plasmid pAL969, which has a T-region from pTiB6 and contains only foreign DNA between the border sequences.

Specific Patent Information

Patent Number Title, Independent Claims and Summary of Claims Assignee
US 4693976

  • Earliest priority – 24 February 1983
  • Filed – 23 February 1984
  • Granted – 15 September 1987
  • Expected expiry – 14 September 2007
 Title – Process for the incorporation of foreign DNA into the genome of dicotyledonous plants using stable cointegrate plasmids

Claim 1
A process for the incorporation of foreign DNA into the genome of dicotyledonous plants comprising

  • infecting the plants or incubating plant protoplasts with A. tumefaciens bacteria, which contain one or more Ti (tumor inducing) plasmids, characterized in that as Ti plasmid a stable co-integrated plasmid composed of the plasmid R772 and the plasmid pTiB6 with foreign DNA incorporated in the T-region of the Ti component of the co-integrated plasmid is applied.
Claim 3
A process for the production of Agrobacterium tumefaciens bacteria, which contain one or more Ti plasmids, comprising

  • combining in Escherichia coli a vector known per se for use in E. coli, provided with T-DNA region in which foreign DNA has been incorporated, with co-integrated plasmid pAL969 and the co-integrated plasmid with foreign DNA incorporated by double crossing-over in the T-region of the Ti component of transferring the co-integrated plasmid to A. tumefaciens.

Claims of the US patent 4693976 recite

  • the incorporation of foreign DNA into the dicot genome by infecting or incubating plant protoplasts with A. tumefaciens having a stable co-integrated plasmid (R772::pTiB6). Such plasmid bears a modified T-region with foreign DNA. The co-integrated is formed within E. coli by homologous recombination (double crossing) of R772, a broad host range plasmid, and pTiB6, a Ti plasmid with an engineered T-region.
  • the process for the production of A. tumefaciens bacteria comprising:
    1. combining in E. coli a vector having a T-region with foreign DNA and the co-integrated plasmid pAL969; and
    2. transferring the recombinant to A. tumefaciens.

Schilperoort & Hille
EP 120515 B1

  • Earliest priority – 24 February 1983
  • Filed – 23 February 1984
  • Granted – 22 November 1990
  • Expected expiry – 22 February 2004
 Title – A process for the incorporation of foreign DNA into the genome of dicotyledonous plants; a process for the production ofAgrobacterium tumefaciens bacteria

Claim 1
A process for the incorporation of foreign DNA into the genome of dicotyledonous plants comprising

  • infecting the plants or incubating plant protoplasts with Agrobacterium tumefaciens bacteria containing at least one plasmid which is derived from the co-integrated plasmid pAL969 by the incorporation of foreign DNA in the T-region of the component pTiB6 characterized in that the co-integrated plasmid with foreign DNA contains only foreign DNA between the 23 base pairs of the wild-type T-region.

Designated contracting States at the time of grant are: Austria, Belgium (patent lapsed as reported by INPADOC), Switzerland (patent lapsed as reported by INPADOC), Germany, France, United Kingdom (patent lapsed as reported by INPADOC), Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands (patent lapsed as reported by INPADOC), Sweden (patent lapsed as reported by INPADOC)

The claims of the patent EP 120515 recite:

  • a process for foreign DNA incorporation into a dicot genome by infecting plant protoplasts with A. tumefaciens containing a plasmid derived from the co-integrated plasmid pAL969. The transferred plasmid contains only foreign DNA between the 23 bp ends of the wild-type T-region of the Ti plasmid pTiB6.

University of Leiden and Schilperoort
Remarks Related patents include:

  • JP 2523468 B2 – granted and expired
  • JP 2528270 B2 (divisional of now granted JP 2523468 B2) – granted and expired
  • NL 8300699 A – application lapsed as reported by INPADOC

Note: Patent information on this page was last updated on 1 March 2006.