DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
Claims Status
Claims 1-9 are pending.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. PCT/KR2022/005066, filed on 10/06/2023.
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Interpretation
With respect to claim 2 which recites “compared to a parent strain”, a parent strain is being interpreted as any recombinant microorganism of the genus Corynebacterium without a weakened SEQ ID NO:1 for the purpose of examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
With respect to claim 1 (claims 2-5 dependent from), the claim recites “the activity of a protein”. It is unclear to what activity of the protein the claim is referring to (i.e., reaction activity, kinetics, substrate activity, binding activity, etc.) and it is therefore indefinite.
With respect to claim 2, the claim recites “a parent strain”. It is unclear to what defines the parent strain or what the parent strain is and therefore it is indefinite.
With respect to claim 4, the claim recites “wherein the activity of an arginine repressor is further weakened”. It is unclear to what activity (i.e., reactivity, kinetics, binding activity, enzymatic activity, etc.) of the arginine repressor is being referred to. It is not clear as to what defines “activity” and “further weakened” as there is insufficient antecedent basis that references the activity of an arginine repressor and is therefore unclear to what the scope of “further weakened” is and therefore it is indefinite.
With respect to claim 6 (claims 7-9 dependent from), the claim recites “the activity of a protein”. It is not clear as to what activity (i.e., reactivity, kinetics, substrate activity, binding activity, etc.) the claim refers to and it is therefore indefinite.
With respect to claim 8, the claim recites “the activity of an arginine repressor is further weakened”. It is unclear to what activity (i.e., reactivity, kinetics, binding activity, enzymatic activity, etc.) of the arginine repressor is being referred to. It is not clear as to what defines “activity” and “further weakened” as there is insufficient antecedent basis that references the activity of an arginine repressor and is therefore unclear what the scope of “further weakened” is and therefore it is indefinite.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Jiang et al. (Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology, Vol. 40, pgs. 1143-1151; published October 1, 2013; cited in the IDS), hereinafter referred to as Jiang et al., as evidenced by NCBI, GenBank Accession Number: AIK88893.1; published August 21, 2014; cited in the IDS) hereinafter referred to as S1.
With regards to claims 1-3, 5 and 9, Jiang et al. teach the deletion of the spermidine synthase encoded by speE in Corynebacterium glutamicum which resulted in enhanced production of L-ornithine (a precursor of L-arginine in the L-arginine biosynthesis pathway) (see Abstract, pg. 1143, right column, pg. 1143, and left column, pg. 1144). Thus, the strain has a weakened activity of a protein of SEQ ID NO:1. While Jiang et al. do not specifically teach that the strain has increased L-arginine production, this is considered inherent to the strain based upon the fact that the strain has enhanced L-ornithine production which is a precursor of L-arginine. While Jiang et al. do not specifically teach the specific amino acid sequence of the deleted SpeE gene, its amino acid sequence is evidenced by GenBank Accession No: AIIK88893.11 (spermidine synthase, Corynebacterium glutamicum) taught by S1 which shares 100% sequence identity with SEQ ID NO:1 of the current instant application.
With regards to claims 4 and 8, Jiang et al. teach the deletion of the argR gene (arginine repressor) of Corynebacterium glutamicum (that also contains the speE gene deletion) as a strategy for enhancing the level of expression of the arg operon which resulted in a higher production of L-ornithine (a precursor of L-arginine) compared to the strain with the argR gene present (see left column, pg. 1149).
With regards to claims 6 and 7, Jiang et al. teach the cell culture methods of Corynebacterium glutamicum (which also contains the argR gene deletion) in which the speE protein (which shares 100% sequence identity with SEQ ID NO: 1 of the current instant application) is deleted and the concentration of L-ornithine production (a precursor of L-arginine) is measured (see Materials and methods, pgs. 1144-1147).
Therefore, claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Jiang et al. (Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology, Vol. 40, pgs. 1143-1151; published October 1, 2013) as evidenced by NCBI, GenBank Accession Number: AIK88893.1; published August 21, 2014).
Conclusion
No claims are allowed.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Jiang et al., “l-arginine production in Corynebacterium glutamicim: manipulation and optimization of the metabolic process”, Critical Reviews in Biotechnology, Vol. 41, pgs. 172-185; published November 05, 2020.
Park et al., “Metabolic engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for L-arginine production”, Nature Communications, Vol. 5, pg. 4618, published August 5, 2014.
Jiang et al., “Metabolic evolution of Corynebacterium glutamicum for increased production of L-ornithine”, BMC Biotechnology, Vol. 13, pg. 47; published June 1, 2013.
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/GEORGE THEMISTOCLIS LOUNTOS/Examiner, Art Unit 1652
/RICHARD G HUTSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1652