Appeal No. 2006-3250 Page 7 Application No. 10/468,562 bacteria used by Hikichi, also produces its own β-alanine from aspartic acid. Baigori, page 4241, figure 1. Further, while E. coli produces its own β-alanine, Hikichi requires that the culture medium be supplemented with β-alanine in order to produce large quantities of D-pantothenic acid. Hikichi, column 2, lines 20-24, and column 3, lines 58-61. Nevertheless, the Examiner reasons (Answer, page 4), since both E. coli and Bacillus subtilis produce D-pantothenic acid, a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made would have found it prima facie obvious to substitute Bacillus subtilis, for E. coli in the method taught by Hikichi. According to the Examiner (id.), a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this substitution to avoid adding β-alanine to the culture medium. We disagree. Even if a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to modify Hikichi’s method by substituting Bacillus subtilis for E. coli, there is no suggestion in either reference that one would obtain at least 2 g/l of salts of D-pantothenic acid in the absence of additional β-alanine added to the fermentation media. The Examiner admits as much by recognizing (Answer, page 5), that “one of ordinary skill in the art would not have known in advance exactly how much pantothenic acid would have been produced in a recombinant fermentation with B. subtilis as a host cell in which no β-alanine is added.” While it is true that both organisms produce their own β-alanine, as discussed above, Hikichi requires that the culture medium be supplemented with β-alanine in order to produce large quantities of D-pantothenic acid. Accordingly, we disagree with the Examiner’s assertion (Answer, page 5) that due to the similarities between E.Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Next
Last modified: September 9, 2013