• les derniers brevets deposes: morceaux choisis •realisee en collaboration avec I'inpi

AGRICUl TUREAGROINDi lSTRIE

Productionsvegetales

> Gene de I'hydroxy-phe­nyl pyruvate dioxygenaseet obtention de plantescontenant ce gene resis­tantes aux herbicides (ASailland et ai, FR)RhOne-Poulenc Agrochimie

N" 2734841, FR.

> Improvements in or re­lating to plant starchcomposition (0 Cooke etai, UK)National Starch and Che­mical Investment HoldingCorp and the inventors

N" WO 96/34968, PCT.... a nucleotide sequence en­coding an effective portionof a class A starch branchingenzyme (SBE) obtainablefrom potato plants, or afunctional equivalent the­reof, together with, interalia, a corresponding poly­peptide, a method of alte­ring the characteristics of aplant, a plant having alteredcharacteristics; and starch,particularly starch obtainedfrom a potato plant, havingnovel properties.

> An enzyme with exochi­tinase activity (H Oraborgand S Christgau, OK)Novo Nordisk A/S and theinventors

N°WO 96/36700, PCT.The invention relates to aDNA construct comprisinga DNA sequence encodingan enzyme exhibiting exo­chitinase activity, whichDNA sequence shown inSEQ ID No 1 or SEQ IDNo 3, or analogues of theDNA sequences encodingpolypeptides which are de­rived from SaccharomycescerevisiaeDSM No 9944 orS cereviseae DSM No 9945.

> Method for reproducingconifers by somatic em­bryogenesis using a mal­tose enriched maintenancemedium (PK Gupta, US)Weyerhaeuser Co

N°WO 96/37097.

> Corn rootworm controlvia formation of Iimonene

in transgenic plants (TEMeyer, US)Pioneer Hi-Bred Interna­tionallnc

N" WO 96/37102, PCT.Limonene is effective incontrolling Southern cornrootworm. It can be appliedas a conventional insecticide,or plants can be transformedwith a gene which codes foran enzyme which synthesizeslimonene from a substrateavailable in the plant. Trans­formed plants are resistantto infestation by Southerncorn rootworm.

> Gene controlling senes­cence in plants (H Thomaset ai, UK,AU)Germinal Holdings Ltd andthe inventors

N" WO 96/37613, PCT.... so-called «stay-green»mutation of a gene control­ling leaf senescence in aplant species, add the use ofthe nucleotide sequencescomprising or derived fromthis gene mutation in re­combinant DNA technologyin the production of noveland improved plant variantsfor use in identifying strainsproduced in conventionalplant breeding which havethe mutation.

> Procedl! de mise en evi­dence de microorga­nismes thermoresistantspouvant contaminer cer­taines denrees alimen­taires (E Chrzavzez, FR)Ultra Propre Nutrition In­dustrie Recherche (Unir)

N" 2734844, FR.... precedepermettant la miseen evidencede Byssochlamysniuea, Neosartorya fischeriet Zygosaccharomyces bailiipar amplification de l'ADNgenomique des microorga­nismes cibles en utilisantcomme amorce une sequencecomprise dans les espaceurstranscrits internes (ITS) del'unite ribosomique.

SANTEProte lne s

et peptides

> Helicobacter polypep­tides, their production anduse (T Sugiyama etai, JP)Wako Pure Chemical In­dustries Ltd

N°745674, EP.... amino acid sequences ofpolypeptides reacting withantibodies to Helicobacterpylori, DNAs coding there­for, vectors containing saidDNAs, transformantscontaining said vectors ...

> Human neuropeptide re­ceptor (DRSoppet and CARosen, US)Human Genome SciencesInc

N" WO 96/34877, PCT.... methods for utilizing suchpolypeptides for identifyingantagonists and agonists tosuch polypeptides and me­thods of using the agonistsand antagonists therapeuti­cally to treat conditions re­lated to the underexpressionand overexpression of theneuropeptide receptor po­lypeptides, respectively.

> Biologically active pep­tide fragments of ob pro­tein (RA Smith et ai, UK)Smith kline Beecham pic

N" WO 96/34885, PCT.... protein fragment of the obprotein, being an active siteof said protein, the active siteis formed from one or moreamino acids selected fromone or more of the four he­lices forming the secondarystructure of the og protein.The compounds are consi­dered to be capable of regu­lating the physiological ac­tivity of the ob protein andare therefor of potential usein the treatment of nutritio­nal and metabollic disorders,particularly obesity and dia­betes in the case of agonistsand anorexia and cachexiain the case of antagonists.

> Nucleic acids for trea­ting obesity (KW Giese, LTWilliams, US)Chiron Corp

N" WO 96/35787, PCT.A nucleic acid molecule isprovided that can be ex­pressed in a host cell to pro­duce a biologically active obpolypeptide that can effec­tively inhibit food intakeand/or weight gain. Vectorsand host cells containing thenucleicacid moleculeare alsoprovided, as well as methodsfor producing the ob proteinand other ob polypeptides,methods of induction of the

production of the ob poly­peptides, such as by in vivoor ex vivo gene therapy.

> Transgenic animal mo­dels for Type II DiabetesMellitus (MD Carty et ai,US)Pfizer Inc and the inventors

W WO 96/37612, PClThe DNA construct allowspancrea tic ~ cell-specificex­pression of human islet as­sociated polypeptide (lAPP)under the regulation of therat insulin II promoter inboth cell lines and transge­nic animals. The tra.nsgenicanimals develop amyloidplaque deposits in the isletsof Langerhans in the pan­creas, fasting hyperglycemia,glycouria and diabetic glo­merulosclerosis at 3 to' 5months of age.

> Antisense peptides (ADMiller and JG Raynes, UK)Imperial College ofScience, Technology & Me­dicine, London School ofHygiene and Tropical Me­dicine and the inventors

N°WO 96/34887, PCT.Antisense peptides are pro­vided which are useful in an­tagonising the biological ef­fects of target molecules. Inparticular, the target mole­cule is a cytokine, eg IL-laor IL-l~, TNF-a or IL-8 andthe antisense peptides thusfind use in treating or pre­venting conditions mediatedby these cytokines, for ins­tance inflammatory condi­tions or cancer.

Vaccins

> Composition vaccinaleIiquide et procede de fa­brication (FArminjon et ai,FR)Pasteur Merieux Serums etVaccins

N" 2734484, FR.... comprenant au moins unantigene constitue par unpolysaccharide capsulaire debactcrie couple aune pro­teine tetanique ainsi que descomplexes d'aluminium atitre d'immuno-adjuvant.

> Marek's disease vaccine(HE Spikers and JJ Lou­werens, NL)Duphar International Re­search BV

BIOFUTUR 164 • Fevrier 199743

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