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EP0223399A1 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Effecting somatic changes in plants through the use of negative strand RNAS

Assignee: Monsanto Co
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Filing: 1986-10-10
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2006-10-10
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Abstract

Abstract A strategy is disclosed for effecting useful somatic changes in plants by causing the transcription in the plant cells of negative RNA strands which are substantially complementary to a target RNA strand. The target RNA strand can be an mRNA transcript created in gene expression, a viral RNA, or other RNA present in the plant cells. The negative RNA strand is complementary to at least a portion of the target RNA strand to inhibit its activity in vivo .

Inventors

  • 👤 Francis P. Mccormick
  • 👤 Kenneth A. Barton
  • 👤 William F. Swain

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-05 10:53
CPC Classifications
C; C12; C12N; C12N15/00; C12N15/09; C12N15/11; C12N15/113; C12N15/1131; C12N15/1137; C12N15/63; C12N15/79; C12N15/82; C12N15/8216; C12N15/8218; C12Y; C12Y105/00; C12Y105/01; C12Y105/01019; C12N2310/00; C12N2310/10; C12N2310/11; C12N2310/111

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 11
Claim 1
Independent Claim 58 words
A method for effecting somatic changes in higher plants comprising the step of introducing into a plant a DNA sequence which causes the transcription of a negative strand RNA sufficiently complementary to a target RNA strand that the negative strand RNA will effectively bind to the target RNA strand to inhibit target RNA strand activity in vivo .
Claim 2
Independent Claim 58 words
A method for effecting somatic changes in higher plants comprising the step of introducing into a plant a DNA sequence which causes the transcription of a negative strand RNA sufficiently complementary to a target RNA strand that the negative strand RNA will effectively bind to the target RNA strand to inhibit target RNA strand activity in vivo .
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 27 words
A method as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the target RNA strand is a messenger RNA and the inhibited activity is the expression of an endogenous protein.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 21 words
A method as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the target RNA strand is at least a portion of a pathogen RNA.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 19 words
A method as claimed in Claim 3 wherein the target RNA strand is the RNA of tobacco mosaic virus.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 108 words
A method as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the step of introducing the DNA sequence into the plant comprises the steps of constructing in a bacteria an expression vector plasmid including a promoter normally operable in plant cells and a DNA sequence coding for at least a portion of the target DNA located 3' of the promoter, the orientation of the DNA sequence being reversed relative to the promoter from its normal reading direction; transforming plant cells in culture with the expression vector from the expression vector plasmid, so that the transformed plant cells transcribe the negative RNA stand, and regenerating the transformed plant cells into whole plants.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 39 words
A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the transforming step includes the steps of conjugating the expression vector host with A. tumefaciens ; selecting for A. tumefaciens transconjugants; and infecting plant cells with the selected A. tumefaciens .
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 17 words
A morphologically normal plant produced by a method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 101 words
A chimeric gene construction operable in plants characterised in that it comprises a promotor sequence normally operable in plant cells; and a DNA coding sequence located 3' of the promotor and coding for at least a portion of a target RNA strand normally active in plant cells, the orientation of the DNA coding sequence being reversed relative to the promoter from its normal transcription direction so that the chimeric gene causes transcription of a negative strand RNA complementary to at least a portion of the target RNA strand so as to inhibit activity of the target RNA strand in vivo .
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 101 words
A chimeric gene construction operable in plants characterised in that it comprises a promotor sequence normally operable in plant cells; and a DNA coding sequence located 3' of the promotor and coding for at least a portion of a target RNA strand normally active in plant cells, the orientation of the DNA coding sequence being reversed relative to the promoter from its normal transcription direction so that the chimeric gene causes transcription of a negative strand RNA complementary to at least a portion of the target RNA strand so as to inhibit activity of the target RNA strand in vivo .
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 26 words
A chimeric gene as claimed in Claim 8, characterised by further comprising a polyadenylation sequence normally operable in plants located 3' of the DNA coding sequence.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

EP0126546A2 Cited

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