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Seed Transformation

Seed Transformation – patent application assigned to Scigen Harvest

PCT patent application WO 02/066599 discloses a method to transform plants by wounding pre-germinated seeds with needles and treating the wounded areas with Agrobacterium tumefaciens containing a vector with the desired gene.  The disclosure only describes wounding a cotyledonary node.

Specific Patent Application information

Patent Number Title, Independent Claims and Summary of Claims Assignee
WO 2002/066599

  • Earliest priority – 16 February 2001
  • Filed – 14 February 2002
  • OPI – 29 August 2002
 Title – Efficient method for the development of transgenic plants by gene manipulation

Claim 1
A method for transforming plants, comprising the steps of:1) selecting half a seed, which is germinated for one day as a target plant tissue;
2) wounding the target plant tissue using a bundle of needles;
3) inserting a target gene into the target plant tissue with Agrobacterium tumefaciens vector containing the target gene; and
4) regenerating a whole plant from the target plant tissue.

The claims cover

  •  wounding half a seed which is selected and germinated for a day and are not limited to wounding the node.
  • In the examples, only soybean is transformed, but the independent claim is unrestricted in terms of plant family or species. Dependent claims recite a long list of commercially important crop plants, monocots and dicots.
  • Wounding must be done with a bundle of needles, though it’s not clear how the needles are bundled (e.g., tied together?  collected in some other fashion?) and how many needles you need to form a bundle (more than two?).
  • Step 3) in claim 1 recites ‘… with Agrobacterium tumefaciens vector…’, the claim is not limited to the use of Agrobacterium to provide this vector, although the disclosure describes no other way of providing the vector.

The numerous limitations in independent Claim 1 suggest various ways of inventing around a patent that might issue with this claim language, e.g., by using other than half a seed, pre-germinating for more or less than a day, wounding with one needle or using two or more needles which are not bundled.

Scigen Harvest Co. Ltd
Remarks Priority document published in Kuwait (KR 2002067303).

Note: Patent information on this page was last updated on 23 February 2006.

Seed Transformation – patent applications by The Agri-Biotechnology Research Center of Shanxi

The method disclosed in the following patent applications is based on wounding the apical meristem of the appearing bud in pre-germinated seeds. Although the patents only disclose how to transform one type of species, the independent claims cover methods of transforming plants from any family or species.

Specific Patent Information

Patent Number Title, Independent Claims and Summary of Claims
 Assignee
US 2002/0184663 A1

  • Earliest priority – 26 February 2001
  • Filed – 19 February 2002
  • Application pending
 Title – Method of Agrobacterium mediated plant transformation through treatment of germinating seeds

Claim 1
A plant transformation method mediated by Agrobacterium comprising:(a) providing germinating seeds; and

(b) co-culturing the germinating seeds with an Agrobacterium strain containing Ti plasmids with an inserted nucleic acid sequence so that the foreign nucleic acid sequence carried by the Agrobacterium strain is transferred and integrated into the genome of the germinating seeds through Ti plasmids.

United States application US 2002/0184663 discloses

  • a method to transform plants by treating pre-germinated seed with Agrobacterium tumefaciens containing Ti plasmids with a desired gene.

As described in the disclosure, the method is based on wounding the apical meristem of the appearing bud. Independent Claim 1 does not require wounding, merely contacting Agrobacterium containing a Ti plasmid having a desired gene with germinating seeds. The source of the seeds is unrestricted in terms of family or species of plants, whereas only maize seeds are exemplified in the patent text.

Dependent claims recite monocots and dicots.

Agri-Biotechnology Research Center of Shanxi
EP 1 236 801 A2

  • Earliest priority – 26 February 2001
  • Filed – 25 February 2002
  • Application deemed withdrawn  – 2 January 2004
 Title – Method of Agrobacterium mediated plant transformation through treatment of germinating seeds

Claim 1
A plant transformation method mediated by Agrobacterium, characterized in that germinating seeds were used as the receptors, anAgrobacterium strain containing Ti plasmids with an inserted nucleic acid sequence was used as the donor, the germinating seeds are co-cultured with the Agrobacterium strain so that the foreign nucleic acid sequence carried by the Agrobacterium strain can be transferred and integrated into the genome of the receptor through Ti plasmids.
Remarks
  1. Related application in Canada (CA 2372793) is pending.
  2. Related patent in China (CN 1149918) has been granted on 19 May 2004.

Note: Patent information on this page was last updated on 23 February 2006.