Appeal No. 95-1484
Application 08/070,650
a 50% (w/v) Glycerol Synthetic Medium,” Biotech. & Bioeng.,
Vol. XXIV, pp. 2267-68 (1982).
Claims 49-68 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
being unpatentable in view of the teaching of Ring, Valla,
Kusakabe, or Ramamurti.
Claims 49, 57, 64, 67, and 68 are representative of the
claimed inventions. For reasons explained hereafter, we
consider Claims 57, 64-66, and 68 separately from Claims 49-
56, 58-63,
and 67. Claims 49, 57, 67, and 68 read:
49. A method for producing substantially reticulated
cellulose comprising:
a) culturing a microorganism of the genus
Acetobacter and mutants thereof, wherein said
microorganism is capable of producing substantially
pure cellulose, under substantially continuous
agitation in a liquid medium suitable for growth of
said microorganism for a sufficient time to produce
reticulated cellulose, said microorganism being
characterized as being stable against conversion
from cellulose producing forms to non-cellulose
producing forms under said culturing conditions; and
b) recovering said reticulated cellulose.
57. The method of claim 49 wherein the recovered
reticulated cellulose is characterized when viewed with a
scanning electron microscope by a reticulated structure
having strands of cellulose that interconnect forming a
grid-like pattern extending in three dimensions to give
a fenestrated appearance.
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