Appeal No. 1995-3249
Application No. 07/670,644
invention. Merely by way of example, we note the examiner’s concern that “[w]ithout a
written description providing gene sequence information, one of skill in the art could not
obtain the genes encoding the various classes of enzymes or otherwise make the DNA
used to construct the transformation vectors or the bacteria and plants containing same
without undue experimentation.” See the Answer, page 6. Yet, the record establishes that
at the time of the invention, genes encoding aromatic ring-opening enzymes from
Pseudomonas were widely known, and genes encoding various catechol dioxygenases
had been characterized and cloned for use in a wide range of host organisms. See the
Answer, page 9.
Accordingly, both rejections of claims 3, 4, 7, 9, 10 and 12 through 25 under
35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph, are reversed.
The rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103
The claimed invention is directed to plant transformation constructs containing
structural genes encoding bacterial catechol dioxygenases, bacteria containing the plant
transformation constructs, transgenic plants transformed with the constructs, and a method
of degrading aromatic soil contaminants using the transgenic plant.
Stalker (“the primary reference”) and Perkins I (“the tertiary reference”) establish
that transgenic plants capable of deactivating compounds normally toxic to them (i.e.,
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