Appeal 2007-1069
Application 10/334,990
made. This can be done advantageously by overexpressing the hydantoinase
genes in question according to their turnover rates” (Specification 3: 30-33).
Several different approaches are disclosed “[t]o adopt the turnover
rate of all enzymes expressed in the whole cell” (Specification 5: 23-25),
including by the use of different promoters, mutant enzymes, enzymes from
different sources, and replicons (e.g., plasmids) with different copy numbers
(Specification 5: 26 to 6: 29). Since “turnover rate” refers to the speed at
which enzymes process their substrates, the amount of enzyme expressed in
the cell determines how much substrate is processed in a given time period.
“The test for definiteness is whether one skilled in the art would
understand the bounds of the claim when read in light of the specification. If
the claims read in light of the specification reasonably apprise those skilled
in the art of the scope of the invention, § 112 demands no more.” Miles
Laboratories, Inc. v. Shandon, Inc., 997 F2d 870, 875, 27 USPQ2d 1123,
1126 (Fed. Cir. 1993) (citations omitted).
In our opinion, the skilled worker would understand, in the context of
the Specification, “the DNAs” are “overexpressed in the microorganism
according to the turnover rates of the respective enzymes” means that the
expression of the three different synthetic enzymes is adjusted to avoid
accumulation of intermediates.
Fig. 5 shows that adjusting the expression of the enzymes according to
their turnover rate avoids the accumulation of intermediate (“CaTrp”) when
the substrate (“IMH”) is converted to the final product (“Trp”)
(Specification 7: 24-30). In contrast, Fig. 6, in which the enzyme expression
levels differ from those in the experiment illustrated in Fig. 5 (Specification
5
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Next
Last modified: September 9, 2013