Appeal No. 1997-2510
Application No. 07/868,539
The Sakata et al. reference indicated the state-of-the-art, and, what
is obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to do with
oligonucleotides with hairpin loops…. The reference indicates that
these structures are formed of single stranded DNA and have
unusually high Tm and thermal stability and indicate what kinds of
bases in the loop effect stability in conjunction with the stem part of
the construct.
Therefore the examiner concludes (Answer, page 7) to obtain high Tm
and thermal stability it would have been obvious to substitute the “UUCG”
sequence taught by Sakata into the loop of Vickers.
The examiner relies on Metzler (Answer, page 29) to demonstrate that
calculating energy of formation of stem-loop structures was within the skill of a
person of ordinary skill in the art. In addition, the examiner identifies (Answer,
page 7) a number of teachings in Uhlmann “improve transport and hybridization
(page 558)”, “interactive groups (page 573+) for the target nucleic acids”, and
“have been conjugated to proteins (page 560 and 561) via various linkers such
as mercapto groups.” However, it is not until the examiner responds to
appellant’s arguments (Answer, bridging paragraph, pages 29-30) that the
examiner’s reliance on Uhlmann is explained:
Uhlmann et al. disclosed attachment of group specific
reactive moieties (see at least page 550) to improve transport and
hybridization (page 558). From the teaching in the reference, one
of ordinary skill in the art would have had and known of interactive
groups (page 573+) for the target nucleic acids and have
conjugated the oligonucleotides and proteins (page 560 and 561)
via various linkers such as mercapto groups.
Finally, the examiner relies on Inouye (id.) for the disclosure of “constructs
that form a stem and loop structure….”
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