Appeal No. 1997-4145
Application No. 08/361,328
adhered to a glass surface (see e.g., p. 508, § (b) and sentence bridging pp. 510-511,
"Thus DNA in the presence of 10 mM-MgCl2 revealed different orders of unfolding as
the sample volume and the shear stress were varied."). Matsumoto also indicates that
DNA may be significantly broken during its isolation from cells (sentence bridging pp.
504-505).
Therefore, upon consideration of the record as a whole, we conclude that it
would require undue experimentation to derive the invention of claims 33-40, which
require controlled stretching of DNA to specific lengths. Consequently, we affirm the
rejection for lack of enablement.
II. Rejection of claims 1, 2, 4, 5 and 10 under § 102(b) as anticipated by Matsumoto
Matsumoto studied the structure of DNA in solution using fluorescent
microscopy.
Individual DNA molecules in solution can be visualized under a
fluorescence microscope by using the DNA binding dye 4',6-diamidino-2-
phenylindole and can be recorded on video as mobile structures
(Morikawa & Yanagida, 1981). DNA in the presence of 10 mM MgCl2 was
found to adhere to the glass surface, so that 4',6-diamidino-2-
phenylindole-stained DNA can be filmed as still images. Fluorescence
micrographs of DNA (bacteriophages T4, T3 and 8, yeast and chicken
erythrocyte) taken by the present procedure are better in resolution than
those obtained by video, showing structural details of DNA molecules
hitherto not observed in solution. In the specimens prepared at the
reduced shear stress, the folded particles and the short thick filaments
were abundant. The shear stream extended them into the wavy and the
straight thin filaments. The lengths of the thin filaments seen in viral DNA
correlated well with those determined by electron microscopy. Our results
- 10 -
Page: Previous 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007