Intellectual Property

Core Technology

Methods and means for producing modified phenotypes. Published as WO 99/53050. Granted: Australia 760041, NZ 507093, China ZL 99805925.0.

HairpinRNAi technology was invented by a research team at CSIRO lead by Dr Peter Waterhouse. The core technology involves hairpin RNA which may be delivered by DNA constructs, optionally with an intron separating the inverted repeat sequences.

Control of gene expression. Published as WO 99/49029. Granted: Australia 743316, Canada 2323726, Czech Rupublic 295108, Great Britain 2353282, Hong Kong 1035742B, New Zealand 506648, Singapore 75542, South Africa 2000/4507, United States 6573099.

This patent family was assigned solely to CSIRO from Benitec Australia Ltd in 2006. Some fields have been licensed exclusively, for example to Benitec for human applications and Sigma Aldrich for research tools.

Improvements to Core Technology

• Means and methods for modifying gene expression using unpolyadenylated RNA.  Published as WO 2001/12824.  Granted: Australia 783799, New Zealand 516929, US 6423885, US 7138565. .

Describes methods for producing and using unpolyadenylated RNAi molecules.

• Methods and means for producing efficient silencing constructs using recombinational cloning.  Published as WO 2002/059294.  Granted US 6933146.

Design of high throughput hairpin RNAi cloning vectors.

• Methods and means for monitoring and modulating gene silencing.  Published as WO 2003/076620.

Describes multi-gene targeting and a silencing monitoring system to identify transgenic events with high degree of silencing.  Especially useful when phenotype of gene of interest is subtle or unknown.

• Modified gene silencing RNA and uses thereof.  Published as WO 2003/076619.

Describes the use of nuclear targeting sequences to induce RNAi mechanism.  Useful for non-double stranded RNA.

• Efficient gene silencing in plants using short dsRNA sequences.  Published as WO 2004/0733.

Describes the use of polymerase III promoters driving the expression of short hairpin constructs.

• Modified gene-silencing nucleic acid molecules and uses thereof. Published as WO 2005/026356

Describes the use of nuclear-targeted nucleic acid molecules to induce gene silencing in animal, fungal or protist cells.

• Delivery of dsRNA to arthropods. Published as WO 2003/04644. Granted in New Zealand 530969.

Describes the use of dsRNA in arthropods including insects.

• Insect resistance using inhibition of gene expression. Published as WO 2005/049841

Describes the use of dsRNA to provide resitance to sap-sucking insects.

Specific Applications

Methods and means for producing barley yellow dwarf virus resistant cereal plants.  Published as WO 2002/059257.  Granted US 6777588.

Design of hairpinRNAi constructs targeting barley yellow dwarf virus and related viruses.