Appeal No. 1997-0791
Application No. 08/172,332
acid protein that has a 97% identity to one of the rodent kainate receptor subunits.
Puckett, Abstract. Puckett compares the human glutamate receptor amino acid sequence
with the rat GluR1 amino acid sequence, but does not disclose any DNA sequence
encoding the amino acid sequence of the rat or human glutamate receptor or the specific
DNA sequence claimed.
Heinemann, discussed above, discloses a rat glutamate receptor amino acid and
DNA sequence for GluR1. Sommer is relied on for the disclosure that rat and mouse
glutamate receptor genes, including GluR1, produce alternatively spliced mRNAs (“flip”
and “flop”) which exhibit functional differences in their response to various ligands. The
examiner argues that one of ordinary skill in the art would be able to isolate a cDNA clone
of the human “flop” splice variant of the GluR1 receptor taught by Puckett, and would have
a reasonable expectation of success of isolating the “flip” variant using the HGluR1 clone
as a probe in view of the high degree of homology of the two variant cDNAs taught by
Sommer. Examiner’s Answer, paragraph bridging pages 5 and 6.
The genetic code relationship between the disclosed amino acid sequence for
human glutamate receptor and nucleic acids does not overcome the deficiencies of the
cited references. In Deuel it was determined that “[a] prior art disclosure of the amino acid
sequence of a protein does not necessarily render particular DNA molecules encoding the
protein obvious because the redundancy of the genetic code permits one to hypothesize
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