Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This office action is in response to applicant’s amendments filed April 27, 2026. Claims 1-3,5-11,13-15, 21 and 24-27 are pending. Claims 4,12,16-20,22 and 23 have been cancelled. Claims 1,7,9,10,15,24,25 and 27 have been amended. Claim 21 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to nonelected inventions, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
The rejection of Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, is withdrawn in view of applicant’s amendments to the claim.
The objection to claims 9 and 10 are withdrawn in view of applicant’s amendments to the claims.
All other rejections recited below are maintained for the reasons set forth below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-3,5-8,11,15,24 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suzuki (Azoreductase from alkaliphilic Bacillus sp. AO1 catalyzes indigo reduction. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology (2018) 102: 9171-9181) in view of Ma (Biodegradation and Biotransformation of Indole: advances and Perspectives. Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol 9, November 1, 2018; Article 2625, pages 1-18).
Suzuki teaches dyeing textiles with indigo by making the indigo in soluble form ( leucoindigo), immersing (dipping, dwelling) a textile in the leucoindigo to allow the dye to penetrate the textiles, then converting leucoindigo to indigo through air oxidation (page 9171, introduction). Suzuki further teaches indoxyl spontaneously dimerizes to produce leucoindigo followed by indigo (page 9171, introduction, page 9172, Fig 1). Suzuki further teaches an effective way to reduce the indigo to leucoindigo is using reducing enzymes such as azoreductases, particularly isolated AzoA (abstract). Suzuki teaches isolated AzoA (page 9175, right column, physicochemical properties of AzoA).
Suzuki does not teach hydroxylating indole in the presence of an oxidizing enzyme to indoxyl or converting tryptophan in the presence of tryptophanase to indoxyl.
Ma teaches converting tryptophan to indole using tryptophanase; converting indole to indoxyl using FMO (flavin monooxygenase hydroxylating indole in the presence of (Figures 9 and 10, pages 13 and 14). Ma teaches dyeing denim (fabric, page 8, left column, last paragraph). Ma teaches isolating oxygenases from microorganisms (page 9, left column, last paragraph).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the methods of Suzuki by producing indoxyl by first converting tryptophan in the presence of tryptophanase to indole and converting indole in the presence of flavin-containing monooxygenase to indoxyl as Ma teaches this is a known effective pathway for producing indoxyl in an indigo preparation process. It would have been further obvious to use the AzoA reducing enzyme to convert indigo to leucoindigo as Suzuki teaches indoxyl spontaneously dimerizes to produce indigo and is reduced to leucoindigo and then oxidized indigo. Adding the AzoA reducing enzyme would facilitate a reduction of the spontaneously formed indigo from indoxyl to leucoindigo form in a soluble reduced form of indigo for dyeing textiles followed by air oxidation to convert leucoindigo to indigo. It would have been further obvious to carry out the enzyme oxidation and enzyme reduction steps in a single pot to convert the indoxyl to indigo to immediately reduce the indigo to leucoindigo. Further a one-pot process reduces space, process time and loss of composition from transferring from one vessel to another as only a single vessel is necessary.
It would have been obvious to isolate the oxidizing, reducing and tryptophanase enzymes as Suzuki teaches purifying AzoA to near homogeneity and Ma teaches enzyme isolation from microorganisms is conventional. Enzyme isolation would provide a pure concentrated state of the enzyme for efficient and controlled conversion of tryptophan to indole, indole to indoxyl and indoxyl to leucoindigo.
Regarding a tryptophan derivative and the limitations of claims 3 and 6, if these claims were written in independent form the tryptophan derivative would still be an alternate embodiment and therefore optional. The examiner has found tryptophan and therefore has met the alternate embodiment of these claims.
Claims 11 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suzuki (Azoreductase from alkaliphilic Bacillus sp. AO1 catalyzes indigo reduction. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology (2018) 102: 9171-9181) in view of Ma (Biodegradation and Biotransformation of Indole: advances and Perspectives. Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol 9, November 1, 2018; Article 2625, pages 1-18) and further in view of Kaplan (US 2017/0362435).
Suzuki and Ma are relied upon as set forth above.
Suzuki and Ma do not teach immobilized enzymes, yarns or garments..
Kaplan teaches in indigo dyeing textiles, fabrics, yarns and garments are conventionally dyed (paragraphs 0020,0059) by alternating dipping the textiles in leucoindigo dyebath (paragraphs 0032-0033, 0080) and skying the textiles in air in more than one dye tanks continuously (paragraphs 0033, 0043, 056).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the methods of Suzuki and Ma by dipping and skying the textiles of Suzuki and Ma as Kaplan teaches dyeing textiles with indigo is conventionally performed on garments, yarns and fabric by dipping into a leucoindigo (reduced indigo) solution followed by skying (air oxidation) multiple times in a plurality of dye tanks continuously.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suzuki (Azoreductase from alkaliphilic Bacillus sp. AO1 catalyzes indigo reduction. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology (2018) 102: 9171-9181) in view of Ma (Biodegradation and Biotransformation of Indole: advances and Perspectives. Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol 9, November 1, 2018; Article 2625, pages 1-18) and further in view of Yan (Production of Indigo by Immobilization of E.Coli BL21 (DE3) Cells in Calcium Alginate Gel Capsules. Chin. J. Chem. Eng., 15(3), p 387-390, (2007).)
Suzuki and Ma are relied upon as set forth above.
Suzuki and Ma do not teach immobilized enzymes.
Yan teaches methods of using enzymes to convert indole to indigo, wherein immobilization of the enzymes led to the enzymes being less sensitive to variations in temperature and enzymes having a higher thermal stability with better stability in repeated operations (page 390, left column, first paragraph).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the methods of Suzuki and Ma by using immobilized oxidizing, reducing or tryptophanase enzymes as Yan teaches immobilized enzymes are less sensitive to variations in temperature and these enzymes have a higher thermal stability with better stability in repeated operations. Using a known method that enhances enzyme stability would be obvious in method of producing indigo which also use enzymes in leucoindigo production.
Claims 26 and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suzuki (Azoreductase from alkaliphilic Bacillus sp. AO1 catalyzes indigo reduction. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology (2018) 102: 9171-9181) in view of Ma (Biodegradation and Biotransformation of Indole: advances and Perspectives. Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol 9, November 1, 2018; Article 2625, pages 1-18) and further in view of Rioz-Martinez (Exploring the biocatalytic scope of a bacterial flavin-containing monooxygenase, Org. Biomol. Chem, 2011, V9, pgs.1337-1341),
Suzuki and Ma are relied upon as set forth above.
Suzuki and Ma do not teach oxidizing enzymes coupled to phosphite dehydrogenase, particularly PTDH-mFMO.
Rioz-Martinez teaches a fusion cofactor-regenerating enzyme of PTDH-mFMO (mFMO is a monooxygenase; page 1337, right column , first paragraph of introduction) has the ability to form indigo blue from indole by a very efficient conversion (page 1338, left column, second paragraph).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the methods of Suzuki and Ma by using PTDH-mFMO as Rioz-Martinez teaches PTDH-mFMO enzyme has the ability to form indigo blue from indole by a very efficient conversion. Using a known a known enzyme that efficiently converts indole to indigo is obvious as these modification improve the conversion of indole to indigo. Nothing unobvious is seen in using a standard textile dyeing method to convert a known effective indigo precursor, indole, to a second precursor, indoxyl, and then converting to indigo with effective and efficient cofactor-regenerating oxidizing enzymes such as PTDH-mFMO.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9 and 10 are allowed. Claim 9 requires the presence of an reducing enzyme coupled to a glucose dehydrogenase, phosphite dehydrogenase or formate dehydrogenase and while the prior art teaches oxidizing enzymes coupled to phosphite dehydrogenase, the prior art does not teach or fairly suggest reducing enzymes coupled to the claimed dehydrogenases. Claim 10 requires the presence of PTDH-AzoA and while the prior art teaches producing indigo using a reducing enzyme AzoA, the prior art does not teach or fairly suggest the fusion enzyme PTDH-AzoA.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed regarding Suzuki in view of Ma have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The examiner first draws attention to applicant’s example 1 (page 37) which discloses a 1 pot process with the oxidizing enzyme and reducing enzyme present and acknowledges that the even in the presence of the reducing enzyme it is hypothesized that indigo is produced from the hydroxylation of indole by mFMO but immediately and continuously reduced into leuco indigo by AzoA (page 38, results). Since applicant’s one pot process requires oxygen to be added into the pot for the proper action of the mFMO and is present as soon as indoxyl is generated (applicant’s page 29, lines 23-28) the indoxyl of applicant’s method would also spontaneously produce indigo as it is an oxygen rich environment. Applicant acknowledges this step based on the deduction that the AzoA is actually reducing indigo produced by the oxidation of indoxyl and converting that indigo into leuco-indigo.
In the previous office action the examiner asserted that adding the AzoA reducing enzyme would facilitate a reduction of the spontaneously formed indigo from indoxyl to leucoindigo form in a soluble reduced form of indigo for dyeing textiles followed by air oxidation to convert leucoindigo to indigo. The examiner has argues that even though indigo is produced from indoxyl it can be converted to leuco-indigo in the presence of reducing agent. Applicant’s claims as recited do not prohibit an indoxyl-indigo-leucoindigo mechanism for using reducing enzyme to produce leucoindigo from a indoxyl starting material. Applicant’s own example asserts that this is the mechanism. Applicant’s arguments that suggest Suzuki teaches away from the claimed process are actually identified in the specification as the same process as Suzuki.
Nothing unobvious is seen in converting the indole to indoxyl to indigo and to leucoindigo in a single pot as Suzuki teaches each of these steps in sequence and performing them in a single container would be most efficient. Applicant also teaches indole to indoxyl to indigo to leuco-indigo in example 1. MA further reinforces what applicant’s specification states, specifically that indole is converted to indoxyl by FMO and spontaneously dimerizes to indigo. It is this indigo that is converted to leuco indigo by AzoA reducing enzyme not the indoxyl itself. Since the method of performing in one pot or two sequential pots achieve the same outcome and same reaction sequence, nothing unobvious is seen in combining the chemicals into a single pot for a faster sequence of events. "As a general rule, no invention is involved in the broad concept of performing simultaneously operations which have been previously been performed in sequence ." In re Tatincloux and Guy, 108 USPQ 125(CCPA 1955). Changing the order of steps does not render a claimed process non-obvious over the prior art, see Ex parte Rubin, 128 USPQ 440,441,442 (POBA 1959).
Applicant’s arguments regarding the additional engineering or the success of the one pot vs. two pot process are conclusory and not supported by factual evidence. Using the methods of Suzuki and Ma to prepare the leuco indigo and use it in conventional dye ranges would be obvious as the dye would be provided in reduced form by the mechanisms claimed and then oxidized conventionally ab dipping in the reduced dye and skying to oxidize the indigo to its insoluble form. Yan is reasonably pertinent to the disclosure and does not need to be analogous art. Yan deals with indole to indigo conversion and applicant in example 1 admits that the indole is formed into indoxyl and then into indigo which is then reduced by AzoA to leuco indigo so the teachings of Yan are related to such a process. Accordingly, the rejections are maintained.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AMINA S KHAN whose telephone number is (571)272-5573. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9am-5:30pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Angela Brown-Pettigrew can be reached at 571-272-2817. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/AMINA S KHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761
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