US PATENT SUBCLASS 435 / 479
.~.~.~ Plasmid or episome confers the ability to utilize directly a compound which a wild type microorganism is unable to utilize

Current as of: June, 1999
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435 /   HD   CHEMISTRY: MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND MICROBIOLOGY

440  DF  PROCESS OF MUTATION, CELL FUSION, OR GENETIC MODIFICATION {6}
471  DF  .~ Introduction of a polynucleotide molecule into or rearrangement of nucleic acid within a microorganism (e.g., bacteria, protozoa, bacteriophage, etc.) {6}
476  DF  .~.~ The polynucleotide is a plasmid or episome {13}
479.~.~.~ Plasmid or episome confers the ability to utilize directly a compound which a wild type microorganism is unable to utilize

DEFINITION

Classification: 435/479

Plasmid or episome confers the ability to utilize directly a compound which a wild type microoraganism is unable to utilize:

(under subclass 476) Processes wherein the plasmid or episome contains nucleic acid which enables a microorganism transformed with said plasmid or episome to metabolize a compound not metabolizable by the wild type microorganism.

(1) Note. For purposes of this subclass, metabolism of a compound is defined as a biochemical activity upon said compound that results in the formation of a product or intermediate product which is further useful to the microorganism or useful in production of energy useable by the microorganism.

(2) Note. This subclass includes the use of nucleic acids conferring the ability to utilize compounds such as isoprenoids, camphor, L-tartrate, etc.

(3) Note. This subclass is not intended to include use of nucleic acids encoding antibiotic resistance as the means of conferring the new metabolic activity. i.e., where said compound is an antibiotic.

(4) Note. This subclass is not intended to include the use of genes which indirectly confer the ability to utilize a nutrient substrate which the wild type microorganism cannot utilize, e.g., a gene encoding an enzyme which damages plant cell walls thereby permitting the recombinant microbe access to nutrients within, etc.