Detailed Action
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1, 3, 7, 9-10, 12-21 and 23-24 are pending.
Claims 15-21 and 23-24 are withdrawn.
Claims 1, 3, 7, 9-10 and 12-14 are examined.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 11/14/2025 has been entered.
Withdrawn rejections
The rejection of claims 1, 3, 7-10 and 12-14 under 35 USC 112(b) is withdrawn in light of amendments made by Applicant.
The rejection of claims 1, 3, 7-10 and 12-14 under 35 USC 103 is withdrawn in light of amendments made by Applicant.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Written description
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1, 3, 7, 9-10 and 12-14 remain rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
This rejection is modified from the rejection applied in the Final Rejection filed 8/5/2025 as applied to claims 1, 3, 7-10 and 12-14 in response to amendments made by Applicant.
Claim 1 is drawn to a method of promoting constitutive expression of a mutant CTR1 protein kinase in the nucleus of a plant cell wherein the mutant has the N-terminal domain fragmented or mutated such that it has no protein kinase activity with the intended use of improving the stress tolerance of the plant and recovery from stress. Claim 3 specifies that the mutant is a fragment of CTR1 with the N-terminal domain removed and has protein sequence SEQ ID NO: 3. Claim 7 specifies that the CTR1 protein kinase is a mutant having SEQ ID NO: 2. Claim 9 specifies that the mutant comprises SEQ ID NO: 4. Claim 10 specifies that the mutant comprises SEQ ID NO: 5. Claim 12 specifies that the method improves the plant’s stress tolerance to a Markush group of environmental stresses and biotic stresses. Claim 13 specifies that the plant expresses CTR1 protein kinase and wherein overexpression of corresponding CTR1 mutant in the nucleus increases the plant’s stress tolerance. Claim 14 specifies that the plant comprises a Markush group of plant species.
Applicant describes expression of two CTR1 proteins (CTR1-KD and CTR1-KDdead) under the control of 35S promoter localized to the nucleus in a single plant species, Arabidopsis thaliana, with increased drought and salt stress tolerance (page 21, paragraph [0050]; page 27, paragraphs [0074]-[0075]). It is not clear from the disclosure which claimed sequences, i.e., SEQ ID NO:2-5, correspond with the described proteins, CTR1-KD and CTR1-KDdead.
Testerink (Testerink, et al. Journal of Experimental Botany. 2007. 58(14):3905-3914) teaches that phosphatidic acid binds to CTR1, inhibiting its kinase activity, disrupting intramolecular interaction between the CTR1-K and CTR1-N terminal regulatory domain and blocked the interaction of CTR1 with ETR1, an ethylene receptor. Testerink teaches that while the PA binding motif in CTR1 is conserved from the earlier known mammalian homolog Raf-1, mutations in this motif did not affect either PA-binding or PA-dependent inhibition of CTR1 activity.
Applicant does not describe the genus of methods as broadly claimed. Applicant has not described a representative number of species across the claimed genus of promoting constitutive expression of a mutant CTR1 to improve stress tolerance. While the scope of the claimed invention encompasses any way of constitutive expression of a mutant CTR1, which may include, e.g., transformation, gene editing, introgression, Applicant appears to have only described transforming a plant to express a mutant CTR1. Additionally, scope of claimed methods encompasses a CTR1 with any mutation being expressed in the nucleus of any plant resulting in increased stress tolerance to any stress. Applicant has only described increase tolerance to salinity stress in Arabidopsis thaliana, expressing CTR1-KD and CTR1-KDdead. It is not clear from the disclosure which claimed sequences, i.e., SEQ ID NO:2-5, correspond with the described proteins, CTR1-KD and CTR1-KDdead. The teaching of Testerink demonstrates that the knowledge in the art does not cure the deficiency of the described embodiments. Based on the teachings of Testerink in addition to the lack of teachings in the instant Specification, one of ordinary skill in the art would not be able to identify which mutants of a CTR1 protein would result in the function of translocating into the nucleus, loss of kinase activity and increase stress tolerance and in which plants. It is not clear from the Specification whether a protein-protein interaction is required. It is not clear what motifs, conserved domains or individual amino acids and structures are required or not required in the N-terminal domain. The scope of the claimed invention comprises many embodiments but Applicant has only described two structures comprising modified CTR1 proteins for use with the claimed methods. Therefore, Applicant has not described a structure function relationship which would allow one of ordinary skill in the art to recognize which members within the claimed genus are capable of being used in the claimed methods.
Therefore, Applicant has not met the written description requirement for the scope of the claimed invention.
Applicant’s arguments regarding rejection under 35 USC 112(a) for failing to comply with the written description requirement
Applicant's Remarks filed 11/14/2025 do not include arguments specific to the rejection of record under 35 USC 112(a).
Conclusion
Claims 1, 3, 7, 9-10 and 12-14 remain rejected.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID R BYRNES whose telephone number is (571)270-3935. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 - 5:00 M-F.
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/DAVID R BYRNES/Examiner, Art Unit 1662