Appeal No. 2006-3250 Page 5
Application No. 10/468,562
changed or modified in the microorganism.” Included among the various
modifications contemplated by Appellants’ disclosure is deregulating the
biosynthesis of pantothenic acid (pan) and/or isoleucine/valine (ilv) by “increasing
the number of copies of the gene in the genome or by introducing a varying
number of copies of plasmids.” Specification, page 8.
The second step of Appellants’ process requires that the D-pantothenate-
containing fermentation solution be passed through an anion exchanger, thereby
binding the D-pantothenic acid to the anion exchanger.
The third step of Appellants’ process requires that D-pantothenic acid be
eluted from the anion exchanger. This step provides for two different methods of
accomplishing this goal: (1) eluting D-pantothenic acid in the form of calcium
and/or magnesium D-pantothenate by a solution containing inorganic or organic
calcium salts and/or magnesium salts; or (2) eluting the bound D-pantothenate in
the form of free D-pantothenic acid using an HCl solution.
The final required step in Appellants’ process requires that the eluate be
dried and/or formulated.
According to the Examiner, the process outlined above, would have been
prima facie obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention
was made in view of the combination of Hikichi, Baigori, Binder and Hoffman-La
Roche.
It is clear from Appellants’ specification (bridging paragraph, pages 5-6),
as well as Hikichi (column 3, lines 39-50), Baigori (page 4240), and Binder
(column 1, lines 34-43) that a number of microorganisms are capable of
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