Appeal No. 1995-2839
Application 08/062,023
as being unpatentable over Vandenvelde, Mullis I and Mullis II.
II. Claims 17 through 19 and 22 through 24 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§103 as being unpatentable over Mullis I, Mullis II, Mullis III and Matthews.
III. Claims 25 and 26 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as being
unpatentable over Mullis I, Mullis II and Spaete.
We reverse.
The claimed invention is directed to a method of simultaneous amplification and
detection of two target DNA sequences using primers possessing specific properties. As
set forth in claim 15, supra, the primers must (i) have a T (melting temperature) between
m
65 and 74EC, (ii) have T ’ s within about 5EC of each other, (iii) not differ in length from
m
each other by more than 5 nucleotides, and (iv) hybridize to sequences in opposing
strands which are only 90 to 400 nucleotides apart.
Rejection I
The examiner has premised his initial conclusion of obviousness on the combined
teachings of Vandenvelde, Mullis I and Mullis II. The examiner states that Vandenvelde
discloses (i) rapid simultaneous amplification of multiple target DNA sequences, and (ii)
that “the melting behavior of any DNA duplex structure can indeed be predicted from its
primary sequence if the relative stability and their temperature-dependent behavior of each
DNA nearest-neighbor interaction are known.” Answer, p. 6. In addition, the examiner
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