Trilateral Project 24.1-Biotechnology 030

"Derivative", "equivalent" and "variant" do not have well recognized, specific meaning in the art of molecular biology and their use as in this question would raise an issue as to specificity. The term "derivative" has meaning in various chemical arts in which related compounds which result from modifying compounds using know procedures are known as derivatives. In the field of molecular biology, analogous modifications to produce "derivatives" are not generally know nor are they specifically associated with any of the terms "derivative", "equivalent" or "variant". One would look to the specification and the state of the art for an art-accepted meaning of "allele" or "allelic mutant" for the particular protein being claimed and facts of the individual case.