Appeal No. 95-4520
Application 08/038,761
Lectins and Plant Insect Resistance Based Thereon, “ filed September 20,
1991, Serial No. 07/763,100 [now U.S. Patent 5,407,454]. One of us is also
a coinventor of that application. Other insects show little susceptibility to this
lectin, and acquired resistance to naturally occurring lectine is likely to exist.
Thus, a continuing need is felt for new larvicidal proteins which are not found
in nature, yet can easily be expressed in plant cells as a gene product of a
single structural gene.
The present invention involves a Bauhinia purpurea lectin (BPL) in which one or
more lysine residues has been replaced by an amino acid selected from those set forth in
claim 1 on appeal. The claimed invention also involves a DNA sequence which codes for
such a compound. See claim 8 on appeal. As seen from the other claims reproduced
above, the claimed invention involves the use of the altered BPL and DNA sequences
coding therefor.
Kusui describes the nucleotide sequence in deduced amino acid sequence of a
cDNA clone coding for BPL. See Figure 4 of Kusui. The examiner does not allege that
Kusui teaches or suggests altering either the protein or DNA sequence described therein
in the manner required by the claims on appeal.
Kunkel describes a procedure called site-specific mutagenesis which is capable of
producing a site-specific mutation within a DNA sequence. As explained in the last
sentence of the abstract, this procedure can “potentially be used to examine the biological
consequences of specific lesions placed at defined positions within a gene.” The
4
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007