Appeal No. 1997-0160
Application No. 08/073,985
Mullis describes a process for amplifying a target nucleic acid sequence in a
nucleic acid sample and then detecting the amplified target sequence (c. 2, ll. 46-50;
c. 7, ll. 17-24), wherein the sample acid can be single or double stranded DNA or RNA, a
DNA-RNA hybrid or mixtures thereof (c. 7, ll. 39-47), including DNA or RNA from any
source, including bacteria (c. 7, l. 66 - c. 8, l. 2). For example, a single stranded nucleic
acid sample containing a target sequence to be amplified (1) is hybridized with a primer
complementary to the target sequence and (2) contacted with a polymerization agent, e.g.,
a polymerase, and the four deoxyribonucleotides to synthesize a primer extension (i.e.,
elongation) product, (3) the complementary strands of nucleic acid are separated and (4)
the steps of strand separation and extension product synthesis are repeated until the
desired quantity of the target nucleic acid sequence is produced (c. 6, ll. 56-58; c. 9, l. 5 -
c. 10, l. 44). To ascertain whether a test sample contains the target sequence or not, the
test sample is treated with primer, polymerase and deoxyribonucleotides as above,
resulting in amplification of the target sequence if present, (5) a labeled probe capable of
hybridizing to the target sequence is added and (6) if hybridization of labeled probe is
detected, then the test sample contained the target sequence (c. 2, l. 63 - c. 3, l. 29).
According to Mullis,
[t]he present process is expected to be useful in detecting, in a
patient DNA sample, a specific sequence associated with an infectious
disease such as, e.g., Chlamydia using a biotinylated hybridization probe
spanning the desired amplified sequence ... (c. 31, ll. 33-37).
- 5 -
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007