Appeal No. 94-3255
Application 07/673,264
include, inter alia, Bacillus)- are microorganisms which can
utilize methanol, methylamine or both as a source of carbon
and energy. Specification, p. 1, lines 29-37. The9
specification further discloses that a “preferred nutrient
media for culturing the bacterium [sic, bacteria] of the
present invention to produce amino acids includes a carbon and
energy source, preferably methanol....” Id., p. 3, lines 28-
32. The specification does not describe any other compounds
as carbon and energy sources for the claimed methylotrophs
(emphasis added). Thus, while the claim language is “open” to
other carbon and energy sources, it appears to be open in a
very limited sense, to the further inclusion of methylamines
only.
As to our colleague's conclusion (subsection (iii) above)
that the phrase “excreting at least about 5 g/l of lysine,
aspartic acid, phenylalanine, or tryptophan,” is indefinite,
we disagree. In view of the use of the conjunctive “or,” we
9The specification also describes obligate methylotrophs
as microorganisms which utilize methane as a source of carbon
and energy. However, since all these microorganisms are said
to be gram-negative, this group does not include the gram-
positive microorganisms of the genus Bacillus.
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