Claims for Patent: 7,402,428

Summary for Patent: 7,402,428

Title:	Modification of plant lignin content
Abstract:	DNA constructs comprising a first DNA segment that corresponds to at least a portion of a gene in the monolignol biosynthetic pathway, a spacer DNA segment, and a second DNA segment that is complementary to the first DNA segment can be used to reduce or modulate the lignin content in plants. In some embodiments, DNA constructs comprise at least a portion of a gene for 4CL, C3H, CCR, C4H or CCoAOMT. Vascular-preferred and constitutive promoters can be used to drive expression of the constructs.
Inventor(s):	Forster; Richard L. (Auckland, NZ), Rottmann; William H. (Summerville, SC), Connett; Marie B. (Canberra, AU), Sanders; Paul (Auckland, NZ), Zhang; Gary (Auckland, NZ), Fitzgerald; Sandra Joanne (Auckland, NZ), Eagleton; Clare (Auckland, NZ)
Assignee:	Arborgen, LLC (Summerville, SC)
Application Number:	10/946,650
Patent Claims:	1. A DNA construct comprising a promoter operably linked to a first DNA segment comprising the nucleotide sequence having SEQ ID NO: 33 of a gene having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 65, wherein said gene is involved in the monolignol biosynthetic pathway, an intron spacer DNA segment consisting of SEQ ID NO: 64, and a second DNA segment that is fully complementary to the first DNA segment, wherein the first and second DNA segments are arranged in a 5' to 3' direction, with respect to each other in the DNA construct. 2. The DNA construct of claim 1 wherein said gene involved in the monolignol biosynthetic pathway is 4CL (4-Coumarate: CoA ligase). 3. The DNA construct of claim 1 wherein said promoter is a constitutive promoter. 4. The DNA construct of claim 1 wherein said promoter is a tissue-specific promoter. 5. The DNA construct of claim 4 wherein said promoter directs expression in a vascular-preferred manner such that expression is found in the xylem of plants. 6. The DNA construct of claim 1 wherein said promoter is a 4CL promoter from P. taeda. 7. The DNA construct of claim 1 further comprising T-DNA border sequences. 8. A plant expressing the DNA construct of claim 1. 9. A plant cell expressing the DNA construct of claim 1.

Details for Patent 7,402,428

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		2039-02-26
Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.	INTRON A	interferon alfa-2b	For Injection	103132			2039-02-26
Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.	INTRON A	interferon alfa-2b	Injection	103132			2039-02-26