Sorghum
Summary
An Australian patent, AU 743 706 B2, was granted to Pioneer Hi-Bred Inc. in January 2002 and a United States Patent, US 6 369 298 B1, was granted in April. The subject matter is the transformation of sorghum via Agrobacterium. A related application was filed in South Africa.
The granted Australian claims are more limited than the initially filed claims. The sorghum tissue to be transformed is now restricted to a certain group of tissues and the concentration of Agrobacterium cells in suspension is fixed. Another limiting factor of the granted invention is the number of copies of the sequence of interest inserted into the genome of a sorghum cell, tissue or plant, offering another avenue for designing around.
The method disclosed in the US patent utilizes an immature embryo as target for Agrobacterium. The gene cassette must contain a gene which confers resistance to a selection agent. Furthermore, during culture the medium must contain an antibiotic to eliminate the bacteria as well as contain the selection agent.
The broadest claim in the pending US application recites a sorghum plant transformed with Agrobacterium. The main restriction is that fewer than 5 copies of the introduced construct are present in the genome (multiple copies of integrated foreign DNA are generally undesirable).
Sorghum – Specific Patent Information
Patent Number | Title, Independent Claims and Summary of Claims | Assignee | |||||
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AU 743706 B2
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Title – Agrobacterium Mediated Transformation of Sorghum
Method for sorghum transformation with Agrobacterium containing a gene that confers resistance to a selective agent. The tissue to be transformed is selected from: immature embryo, immature inflorescence, basal portion of young leaves and tissue capable of forming callus or secondary embryos. Agrobacterium contains a vector or a super binary vector having the mentioned gene. The transformed sorghum tissue or cell has less than 5 copies of the gene of interest flanked by at least one T-border. |
Pioneer Hi-Bred Inc. |
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US 6369298
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Title – Agrobacterium Mediated Transformation of Sorghum
A method for transformation of sorghum in which an immature embryo is the target tissue for Agrobacterium. The gene cassette must contain a gene which confers resistance to a selection agent. During further culture the medium must contain an antibiotic to eliminate the bacteria as well as contain the selection agent. |
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US 2002/0138879 A1
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Title – Agrobacterium Mediated Transformation of Sorghum
This application is a division of now granted US 6369298. A sorghum plant transformed with Agrobacterium with fewer than 5 copies of the introduced construct integrated in the genome. |
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Remarks | National phase entry of WO 98/49332 has been accepted in South Africa (ZA 98/03603). |
Note: Patent information on this page was last updated on 8 February 2006.