Status of the Claims
The examiner acknowledges the amended claims filed on 08/18/2026.
Claims 4-7 and 9-10 are pending.
Claims 4-7 and 9-10 are examined herein.
Withdrawn Objection and Rejections
The examiner acknowledges the amended specification and drawings filed on 08/18/2026. Objections to the specification and drawings are withdrawn because of amendments to the specification and drawings.
Claim Objections as well as 35 USC § 112 (b), 112 (a), 101, 102/103 and 103 rejections on Claims 1-3 and 8 are moot due to cancelation of the claims.
Claim Objections as well as 35 USC § 112 (b) rejections on Claims 4-7 are withdrawn due to amendments to the claims.
The text of these sections of Title 35 U.S. Code, not included in this action, can be found in a prior Office action.
Informalities
Information Disclosure Statements
The examiner was unable to locate the IDS document referenced on page 11 in the Applicant’s Arguments/Remarks filed on 08/18/2026.
Priority Document
A corrected bib data sheet has been uploaded with this document as the priority document is not an English translation.
Claim Interpretation
Claims 4-7 and 9-10 referencing "ZmTAS3j" are understood to be referencing a gene with the sequence outlined in SEQ ID NO: 1 and disclosed in paragraph 8 of the disclosure.
The Examiner agrees with the Applicant that site-directed mutagenesis PCR is known in the art (see, for example, Ho, Steffan N., et al. "Site-directed mutagenesis by overlap extension using the polymerase chain reaction." Gene 77.1 (1989): 51-59).
Step 1 of Claim 9 is interpreted to be identical to step 1 of Claim 6, despite not mentioning the use of homologous recombination primers.
Claim Objections
Claim 4 is objected to for reciting “constructing an overexpression vector of OE-ZmTAS3j” which should be corrected to recite “constructing an overexpression vector called OE-ZmTAS3j”.
Claim 9 is objected to for omitting an “a” between “into” in line 9 and “pRI101-An” in line 10.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 (b)
Claims 4-5 and 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b), as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which Applicants regard as the invention. All dependent claims are included in these rejections unless they contain a limitation that overcomes the deficiencies of the parent claim from which they depend.
Claim 4 recites a step of “designing amplification primers according to a sequence of ZmTAS3j”. It is unclear if the claim requires the whole nucleic acid sequence or only a fragment, for example a 2-3-5-10-30-40-mer, or a mutated sequence of ZmTAS3j . It is unclear how such relatively short nucleic acid sequence would confer the recited function(s). The phrase “a sequence of ZmTAS3j” rather than “the sequence of ZmTAS3j” encompasses nucleic acids that comprise the full-length sequence or any portion of SEQ ID NO: 1 including numerous shorter nucleic acids that may not confer the function of improving plant tolerance to lead stress.
For purposes of examination, Claim 4 is interpreted to be directed to the entire length of the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:1.
Claim 9 recites a method for overexpressing ZmTAS3jmut in Arabidopsis thaliana. As was recited in the office action mailed on 05/19/2026, it is unclear as to what exact sequence ZmTAS3jmut is directed to and transformed into the Arabidopsis, making it indefinite and impossible for one of ordinary skill in the art to know what sequences are encompassed by the claim. While the claim recites the 5’ miR390 target sequence is destroyed, it does not clearly outline how much of the sequence was mutated. Additionally, Claim 10 does recite specific primers that map to the ZmTAS3j but does not necessitate any specific sequence. Thus, Claim 10 inherits this rejection.
Response to Applicant’s Arguments
Applicant’s arguments for Claims 4-7 and 9-10 have been considered, however the addition of new claims and claim amendments necessitates the new objections/rejections described above.
Conclusion
Claims 4-5 and 9-10 are rejected.
Claims 6-7 are allowed.
Applicants’ 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.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GEORGE W MEYER whose telephone number is (571)272-3733. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00 am- 5:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Bratislav Stankovic can be reached at (571) 270-0305. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GEORGE W MEYER/Examiner, Art Unit 1662
/BRATISLAV STANKOVIC/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Units 1661 & 1662
