Appeal No. 1997-2080
Application No. 08/159,939
21-24, 30-32 and 35 require production and recovery of pullulan of a specific minimum
molecular weight; and claims 7, 23, 33, 34, 36 and 37 impose a pH limitation upon the
fermentation conditions. In summary, each of the claims requires one or more of the
following: enrichment of A. pullulans cultures for yeast-like cells, followed by selection of a
non-pigmented strain; specific strains of A. pullulans; heat treatment of harvested pullulan
to inactivate enzymes; production and recovery of pullulan of defined molecular weight; and
particular pH conditions.
Rejection I
According to the examiner, “[Shumin Na] disclose[s] culturing strain[s] of
Aureobasidium pullulans which were milky white” and “also teach[es] that non-pigmented
strain A22 had yeast characteristics and resulted in high pullulan yield” and “unpigmented
extracellular polysaccharide can be obtained from it.” Further according to the examiner,
[Kelly] disclose[s] a process of enriching for organism[s] that grow as fungal yeast-like cells
by treating Aureobasidium pullulans with ethidium bromide [] and subjecting pullulan to
heat treatment.” Examiner’s Answer, page 3.
The examiner concludes that the invention of claims 21, 22, 24, 29-32 and 35 is
unpatentable over Shumin Na and Kelly because “a person having ordinary skill in the art . .
. would have been motivated to enrich [Shumin Na’s] yeast-like cells of strain A22 . . . and
to select yeast-like cells which exhibit reduced pigmentation in order to produce non-
pigmented pullulans.”
7
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007