Patents by Inventor Erica Pascal

Erica Pascal has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Method of hybrid seed production using conditional female sterility
    Patent number: 6815577
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method for hybrid seed production comprising producing a conditional female sterile plant comprising a female-preferential promoter operably linked to a coding sequence which encodes an enzyme which catalyzes the conversion of a protoxin to a toxin, interplanting the conditional female sterile plant with a male sterile plant, applying the protoxin to the conditional female sterile plant, and producing hybrid seed. Viable seed formation is prevented on the conditional female sterile plant as a result of the conversion of the protoxin to the toxin in the female reproductive structures, and pollen production is prevented on the male sterile plant, thus allowing interplanting of the two parents of the hybrid cross in order to provide more efficient pollen transfer. Also provided are expression cassettes useful in the invention, plants transformed with the expression cassette, and novel female-preferential promoters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2004
    Assignee: Syngenta Participations AG
    Inventors: Stacy Marie Harper, Lyle Dean Crossland, Erica Pascal
  • Female-preferential promoters isolated from maize and wheat
    Patent number: 6392123
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method for hybrid seed production comprising producing a conditional female sterile plant comprising a female-preferential promoter operably linked to a coding sequence which encodes an enzyme which catalyzes the conversion of a protoxin to a toxin, interplanting the conditional female sterile plant with a male sterile plant, applying the protoxin to the conditional female sterile plant, and producing hybrid seed. Viable seed formation is prevented on the conditional female sterile plant as a result of the conversion of the protoxin to the toxin in the female reproductive structures, and pollen production is prevented on the male sterile plant, thus allowing interplanting of the two parents of the hybrid cross in order to provide more efficient pollen transfer. Also provided are expression cassettes useful in the invention, plants transformed with the expression cassette, and novel female-preferential promoters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2002
    Assignee: Syngenta Participations AG
    Inventors: Stacy Marie Harper, Lyle Dean Crossland, Erica Pascal