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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-7 are pending and under examination.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 objected to because of the following informalities: the word “an” should be added before “inorganic nanoparticle-microorganism complex” so that the language is grammatically correct.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b)
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 1-7 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.
Claim 1 recites: a method of producing ammonia, comprising: generating inorganic nanoparticle microorganism complex by endogenously expressing nitrogenase in a medium containing inorganic nanoparticle quantum dots to which hydrophilic ligands are introduced or by culturing microorganisms to which nitrogenase is exogenously introduced.
The term “or” can reasonably interpreted as two alternative methods of ammonia production. It is unclear if the first method requires the addition of microorganisms. It is also unclear if the method requires a step of adding hydrophilic ligands to the medium, or the claim requires that the ligands are added to the nanoparticle quantum dots. It is unclear if the second method requires the addition of inorganic nanoparticle quantum dots and/or hydrophilic ligands. Regarding the recitation of: culturing microorganisms to which nitrogenase is exogenously introduced, it is unclear if the method requires a step of adding nitrogenase to a culture medium containing microorganisms, or if it requires transforming a microorganism with genetic material encoding a nitrogenase. Claims 2-7 are also rejected as they depend from claim 1.
Claim 2 recites an indium phosphide core/zinc selenide shell. It is unclear if the quantum dots require an indium phosphide core OR a zinc selenide shell, or if the quantum dots require both an indium phosphide core and a zinc selenide shell.
Claim 3 recites: wherein the hydrophilic ligand may be selected from…The phrase “may be” is confusing as it is unclear if claim requires the ligand to be one that is recited in the instant claim, or if optionally the ligand may be any type of ligand that is hydrophilic. One of ordinary skill in the art would not understand what is required by the claim. To obviate the rejection, the phrase “may be” should be amended to “is”.
Claim 5 recites the limitation "the light". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 6 recites the limitation "the light". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It is also unclear what is meant by “the light is irradiated” as light is a source of irradiation but is not itself irradiated. Therefore, the language is scientifically incorrect.
Claim 7 recites: wherein the microorganism may be selected from… The phrase “may be” is confusing as it is unclear if claim requires the microorganism to be one that is recited in the instant claim, or if the microorganism optionally may be any type of microorganism. One of ordinary skill would not know what is required by the claim. To obviate the rejection, the phrase “may be” should be amended to “is”.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ding et al., (Microbial Factories: Light-Driven Renewable Biochemical Synthesis Using Quantum Dot-Bacteria Nanobiohybrids. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 10272−10282; cited in the IDS filed 02/03/2024).
It is interpreted that the method of the instant claims requires a medium containing: microorganisms expressing a nitrogenase enzyme and quantum dots attached to hydrophilic ligand.
Regarding claim 1, Ding teaches a method of generating a nanobiohybrid organism (nanorg) by coupling quantum dots (QDs) with targeted enzyme sites in bacteria (Abstract). Ding teaches that the nanoparticles, i.e., the quantum dots, can be matched to the electrochemical potential of the enzyme to trigger them using external light (Introduction, para. 1). Ding teaches that the inorganic nanomaterials may be added to the cellular medium to generate the nanorg (p. 10273, para. 1). Ding teaches that, when illuminated by light, i.e., irradiation, QDs drive the renewable production of different chemicals, such as ammonia (Abstract; Figure 1). Ding teaches a histidine-tagged MoFe nitrogenase (His-tagged MFN) in A. vinelandii coupled to a CdS@ZnS QD (para. spanning pg. 10273-10275; Figure 2), and teaches the light-driven production of ammonia from nanorgs made from A. vinelandii with the His-tagged MFN (Figure 4b). Ding teaches that the CdS@ZnS QDs were capped with a 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) ligand (para. spanning pg. 10275-10276), i.e., a hydrophilic ligand. Ding teaches recovery of ammonia (Supplemental Information, p. S22, Section 6.3 Recovery tests).
Regarding claim 2, Ding teaches quantum dots with indium phosphide cores (pg. 10273, col. 2, para 2) coupled with the histidine-tagged MoFe nitrogenase in A. vinelandii (p. 10275, col. 1, para. 1). Claim 2 is interpreted that the quantum dots require an indium phosphide core or a zinc selenide shell.
Regarding claim 3, Ding teaches QDs capped with a 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) ligand (para. spanning pg. 10275-10276).
Regarding claim 4, Ding teaches a QD concentration of 50 nM (p. 10277, col. 2, para. 1), which falls within the range of the instant claim. See MPEP 2131.03 I, which states that a specific example in the prior art which is within a claimed range anticipates the range.
Regarding claim 5, Ding teaches that A. vinelandii were harvested at mid-log phase, resuspended in photocatalytic media, and subjected to irradiation (Supplemental Information, p. S15, Section 5.3. Cell growth curve measurement).
Regarding claim 6, Ding teaches that the cells were incubated for two hours under irradiation (Supplemental Information, p. S15, Section 5.3. Cell growth curve measurement), which is an irradiation time that falls within the range of the instant claim.
Regarding claim 7, Ding teaches the light-driven production of ammonia from nanorgs made from A. vinelandii (Figure 4b).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RACHEL EMILY MARTIN whose telephone number is (703)756-1416. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 8:30-16:00, F 8:30-10:00 EST.
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/LOUISE W HUMPHREY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1657
/RACHEL EMILY MARTIN/Examiner, Art Unit 1657