On September 25th, 2019, Intact Genomics announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a new patent of “Fungal Artificial Chromosomes, Compositions, Methods and Uses Therefor” (U.S. Patent No. 10,337,019) to Intact Genomics. The patent covers Fungal artificial chromosome (FAC) vectors which can be replicated in a bacterial or a fungal host and can comprise an insert of heterologous DNA up to 300-500 kilobases into a fungal genome. The insert sequence can be modified by homologous recombination. Fungal artificial chromosome (FAC) vectors also can be a plasmid comprising bacterial and fungal origins of replication, as well as bacterial and fungal selection marker genes. Additionally, the patent discloses the methods of generating plasmid libraries including vectors comprising intact SM gene clusters. For more information, click this press release from STLtoday.
