MPEP § 2412.03(a) — “Specifically Defined”
Ninth Edition, Revision 01.2024 · last revised R-01.2024
[Editor Note: This section is applicable to all applications with a filing date, or, for national phase applications, an international filing date, on or after July 1, 2022, having disclosure of one or more nucleotide and/or amino acid sequences as defined in 37 CFR 1.831(b).]
37 CFR 1.831 Requirements for patent applications filed on or after July 1, 2022, having nucleotide and/or amino acid sequence disclosures.
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- (e) “Specifically defined” means any amino acid or nucleotide as defined in paragraph 3(k) of WIPO Standard ST.26.
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WIPO Standard ST.26, paragraph 3(k), provides that “specifically defined” means any nucleotide other than those represented by the symbol “n” and any amino acid other than those represented by the symbol “X,”, wherein “n” and “X” are used in a conventional manner as shown below in Table 1 for nucleotide symbols and Table 3 for amino acids symbols.
| Symbol | Definition |
|---|---|
| a | adenine |
| c | cytosine |
| g | guanine |
| t | thymine in DNA/uracil in RNA (t/u) |
| m | a or c |
| r | a or g |
| w | a or t/u |
| s | c or g |
| y | c or t/u |
| k | g or t/u |
| v | a or c or g; not t/u |
| h | a or c or t/u; not g |
| d | a or g or t/u; not c |
| b | c or g or t/u; not a |
| n | a or c or g or t/u; “unknown” or “other” |
Reproduced from WIPO Standard ST.26, Annex I, Section 1.
| Symbol | Definition |
|---|---|
| A | Alanine |
| R | Arginine |
| N | Asparagine |
| D | Aspartic acid (Aspartate) |
| C | Cysteine |
| Q | Glutamine |
| E | Glutamic acid (Glutamate) |
| G | Glycine |
| H | Histidine |
| I | Isoleucine |
| L | Leucine |
| K | Lysine |
| M | Methionine |
| F | Phenylalanine |
| P | Proline |
| O | Pyrrolysine |
| S | Serine |
| U | Selenocysteine |
| T | Threonine |
| W | Tryptophan |
| Y | Tyrosine |
| V | Valine |
| B | Aspartic acid or Asparagine |
| Z | Glutamine or Glutamic acid |
| J | Leucine or Isoleucine |
| X | A or R or N or D or C or Q or E or G or H or I or L or K or M or F or P or O or S or U or T or W or Y or V; “unknown” or “other” |
Reproduced from WIPO Standard ST.26, Annex I, Section 3.