Claims for Patent: 6,140,085

Summary for Patent: 6,140,085

Title:	Genetic control of flowering
Abstract:	FCA genes of Arabidopsis thaliana and Brassica napus are provided, enabling flowering characteristics, particularly timing of flowering, to be influenced in transgenic plants. Timing of flowering may be delayed or hastened using sense and antisense expression, also various mutants and alleles, including alternatively spliced forms.
Inventor(s):	Dean; Caroline (Norwich, GB), Macknight; Richard Colin (Norwich, GB), Bancroft; Ian (Norwich, GB), Lister; Clare Katharine (Norwich, GB)
Assignee:	Plant BioScience Limited (Norwich, GB)
Application Number:	08/973,273
Patent Claims:	1. An isolated nucleic acid comprising a nucleotide sequence coding for a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence shown in FIG. 2 (SEQ ID NO:3). 2. An isolated nucleic acid according to claim 1 wherein the coding sequence comprises a sequence shown as an exon in FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NO:1). 3. An isolated nucleic acid according to claim 2 wherein the coding sequence comprises the sequences shown as exons in FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NO:1). 4. An isolated nucleic acid according to claim 1 comprising an intron. 5. An isolated nucleic acid according to claim 4 comprising an intron as shown in FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NO:1). 6. An isolated nucleic acid according to claim 5 wherein said intron is intron 3 of FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NO:1). 7. An isolated nucleic acid according to claim 1 further comprising a regulatory sequence for expression of said polypeptide. 8. An isolated nucleic acid according to claim 7 comprising an inducible promoter. 9. An isolated nucleic acid comprising a nucleotide sequence complementary to a coding sequence of claim 1 or a fragment of said coding sequence, wherein said nucleic acid is DNA and said nucleotide sequence is under control of a regulatory sequence for anti-sense transcription. 10. An isolated nucleic acid according to claim 9 comprising an inducible promoter. 11. A nucleic acid vector suitable for transformation of a plant cell and comprising nucleic acid according to claim 1. 12. A host cell containing a nucleic acid according to claim 11, which nucleic acid is heterologous to the host cell. 13. A host cell according to claim 12 which is bacterial. 14. A host cell according to claim 12 which is a plant cell. 15. A plant cell according to claim 14 having said nucleic acid, which nucleic acid is heterologous to the host cell, within its genome. 16. A plant cell according to claim 15 having more than one said nucleic acid per haploid genome. 17. A plant part comprising a plant cell according to claim 16. 18. A plant comprising a plant cell according to claim 14. 19. A method of influencing timing of flowering of a plant, the method comprising causing or allowing expression of the polypeptide encoded by the heterologous nucleic acid according to claim 1 within cells of the plant, wherein said polypeptide influences timing of flowering of said plant. 20. A method of influencing timing of flowering of a plant, the method comprising causing or allowing transcription from the heterologous nucleic acid according to claim 1 within cells of the plant, wherein said transcription influences timing of flowering of said plant. 21. A method of influencing timing of flowering of a plant, the method comprising causing or allowing anti-sense transcription from the nucleic acid according to claim 9 within cells of the plant, wherein said anti-sense transcription influences timing of flowering of said plant. 22. An isolated nucleic acid comprising a nucleotide sequence coding for a polypeptide which on expression in a transgenic plant advances flowering time of the plant, wherein the nucleic acid positively hybridizes in a Southern hybridization experiment to an Arabidopsis thaliana FCA probe of which the coding strand nucleotide sequence is shown in SEQ ID NO:1, and said polypeptide comprises an RNA recognition motif encoded by a nucleic acid amplified by PCR using the following pair of degenerate primers: 23. An isolated nucleic acid according to claim 22 that has the nucleotide sequence of intron 3 of FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NO:1) and all the exons of FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NO:1) except for the exon nucleotides indicated in FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NO:1) to be within the alternative intron splicing sites around intron 13. 24. An isolated nucleic acid according to claim 22 that has the nucleotide sequence of all the exons of FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NO:1) except for the exon nucleotides indicated in FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NO:1) to be within the alternative intron splicing sites around intron 13. 25. An isolated nucleic acid according to claim 22 that has the nucleotide sequence of all the exons of FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NO:1) including the exon nucleotides indicated in FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NO:1) to be within the alternative intron splicing sites around intron 13. 26. An isolated nucleic acid according to claim 22 which has the nucleotide sequence of an Arabidopsis thaliana FCA homologue of a species of Brassica. 27. An isolated nucleic acid according to claim 26 wherein said homologue comprises the amino acid sequence shown in FIG. 8b (SEQ ID NO:5). 28. An isolated nucleic acid according to claim 27 comprising the coding sequence shown in FIG. 8a (SEQ ID NO:4). 29. An isolated nucleic acid comprising a nucleotide sequence complementary to a coding sequence of claim 22 or a fragment of said coding sequence, wherein said nucleic acid is DNA and said nucleotide sequence is under control of a regulatory sequence for anti-sense transcription. 30. An isolated nucleic acid according to claim 29 comprising an inducible promoter. 31. A method of influencing timing of flowering of a plant, the method comprising causing or allowing anti-sense transcription from the nucleic acid according to claim 29 within cells of the plant, wherein said anti-sense transcription influences timing of flowering of said plant. 32. An isolated nucleic acid comprising a nucleotide sequence coding for a polypeptide which on expression in a transgenic plant delays flowering time of the plant, which delay is corrected by vernalization, wherein the nucleic acid positively hybridizes in a Southern hybridization experiment to an Arabidopsis thaliana FCA probe of which the coding strand nucleotide sequence is shown in SEQ ID NO:1, and said polypeptide comprises an RNA recognition motif encoded by nucleic acid amplified by PCR using the following pair of degenerate primers: 33. An isolated nucleic acid according to claim 22 or claim 32 comprising an intron. 34. An isolated nucleic acid according to claim 33 comprising an intron as shown in FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NO:1). 35. An isolated nucleic acid according to claim 34 wherein said intron is intron 3 of FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NO:1). 36. An isolated nucleic acid according to claim 35 comprising the nucleotide sequence of FIG. 3 (SEQ ID NO:2). 37. An isolated nucleic acid according to claim 22 or claim 32 further comprising a regulatory sequence for expression of said polypeptide. 38. An isolated nucleic acid according to claim 37 comprising an inducible promoter. 39. A nucleic acid vector suitable for transformation of a plant cell and comprising nucleic acid according to claim 22 or claim 32. 40. A host cell containing a nucleic acid according to claim 22 or claim 32, which nucleic acid is heterologous to the host cell. 41. A host cell according to claim 40 which is bacterial. 42. A host cell according to claim 40 which is a plant cell. 43. A plant cell according to claim 42 having said nucleic acid, which nucleic acid is heterologous to the host cell, within its genome. 44. A plant cell according to claim 43 having more than one said nucleic acid per haploid genome. 45. A plant comprising a plant cell according to claim 42. 46. A plant part comprising a plant cell according to claim 42. 47. A method of influencing timing of flowering of a plant, the method comprising causing or allowing expression of the polypeptide encoded by the heterologous nucleic acid according to claim 22 or claim 32 within cells of the plant, wherein said polypeptide influences timing of flowering of said plant. 48. A method of influencing timing of flowering of a plant, the method comprising causing or allowing transcription from the heterologous nucleic acid according to claim 22 or claim 44 within cells of the plant, wherein said transcription influences timing of flowering of said plant. 49. A pair of degenerate oligonucleotide primers with the following sequences: 50. A method of amplifying a FCA homologue from a species of plant other than Arabidopsis thaliana, the method comprising generating amplification products by subjecting nucleic acid of said species to PCR employing a pair of degenerate oligonucleotide primers with the following sequences: and analyzing said amplification products to identify said FCA homologue. 51. A method according to claim 50 further comprising isolating a nucleic acid that has been amplified employing said primers.

Details for Patent 6,140,085

Applicant	Tradename	Biologic Ingredient	Dosage Form	BLA	Approval Date	Patent No.	Expiredate
Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.	INTRON A	interferon alfa-2b	For Injection	103132	06/04/1986		2015-06-02
Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.	INTRON A	interferon alfa-2b	For Injection	103132			2015-06-02
Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.	INTRON A	interferon alfa-2b	Injection	103132			2015-06-02