Claims for Patent: 8,129,588

Summary for Patent: 8,129,588

Title:	Regulatory sequences for expressing gene products in plant reproductive tissue
Abstract:	Expression cassettes causing specific regulatory control of transgene expression in plants, wherein the expression cassettes include regulatory sequences from the MADS gene family for expression of recombinant gene products in the reproductive tissue of plants for the purpose of generating abiotic stress tolerant plants.
Inventor(s):	Nuccio; Michael L. (Research Triangle Park, NC), Lagrimini; L. Mark (Apex, NC), Meghji; Moez (Bloomington, IL)
Assignee:	Syngenta Participations AG (Basel, CH)
Application Number:	11/109,594
Patent Claims:	1. An expression cassette for expression of a nucleic acid molecule comprising: a. a promoter, first exon, a first intron, and a second exon of a MADS gene obtained from Oryza sativa, wherein said promoter, first exon, intron and second exon are the 5'-regulatory sequence of said expression cassette; wherein said 5'-regulatory sequence has been engineered to include a translational initiation codon at the 3' end of said 5'-regulatory sequence, and not to contain restriction endonuclease sites that hinder manipulation by recombinant DNA methods or additional translation initiation codons upstream of said translation initiation codon; b. a 3'-regulatory sequence of a MADS gene obtained from Oryza sativa; and c. a nucleic acid molecule operably linked to said 5'-regulatory sequence and said 3'-regulatory sequence, wherein said nucleic acid molecule is heterologous to the 5'-regulatory sequence and to the 3'-regulatory sequence, wherein the product of the expression of said nucleic acid molecule is targeted to the reproductive tissue of a plant. 2. The expression cassette of claim 1, wherein the product of said nucleic acid molecule when expressed in a plant makes said plant abiotic stress tolerant. 3. The expression cassette of claim 1, wherein expression in a plant results in an increase in the sink strength in said reproductive tissue of said plant compared to the sink strength in the reproductive tissue of a plant not comprising the expression cassette of claim 1. 4. The expression cassette of claim 3, wherein said nucleic acid is a nucleic acid encoding a trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase protein. 5. The expression cassette of claim 1, wherein said nucleic acid molecule is depicted by SEQ ID NO. 531. 6. The expression cassette of claim 1, wherein said nucleic acid molecule encodes the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO. 532. 7. The expression cassette of claim 1, wherein said expression cassette is depicted by SEQ ID NO. 536, 537, 538 or 539. 8. A recombinant vector comprising the expression cassette of claim 1. 9. A transgenic plant cell comprising the expression cassette of claim 1. 10. A transgenic plant comprising the transgenic plant cell of claim 9. 11. A transgenic plant according to claim 10, wherein said plant is a monocot plant. 12. A transgenic plant according to claim 10, wherein said plant is a maize plant. 13. A transgenic plant according to claim 10, wherein said plant is a rice plant. 14. A transgenic seed from the plant of claim 10. 15. A transgenic seed from the plant of claim 11. 16. A transgenic seed from the plant of claim 12. 17. A transgenic seed from the plant of claim 13. 18. Plants containing the expression cassette according to claim 1. 19. A method of targeting a nucleic acid molecule to the reproductive tissue of a plant comprising the steps of introducing into said plant an expression cassette comprising: a. a promoter, a first exon, a first intron, and a second exon of a MADS gene obtained from Oryza sativa, wherein said promoter, first exon, intron, and second exon are the 5'-regulatory sequence of said expression cassette; wherein said 5'-regulatory sequence has been engineered to include a translational initiation codon at the 3' end of said 5'-regulatory sequence, and not to contain restriction endonuclease sites that hinder manipulation by recombinant DNA methods or additional translation initiation codons upstream of said translation initiation codon; b. a 3'-regulatory sequence of a MADS gene obtained from Oryza sativa; and c) said nucleic acid molecule operably linked to said 5'-regulatory sequence and said 3'-regulatory sequence, wherein said nucleic acid molecule is heterologous to the 5'-regulatory sequence and to the 3'-regulatory sequence, wherein the product of the expression of said nucleic acid molecule is targeted to the reproductive tissue of a plant; and expressing said cassette in said plant.

Details for Patent 8,129,588

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