US Patent Issued to Purdue Research Foundation on Sept. 2 for "Rhizobial tRNA-derived small RNAs and uses thereof for regulating plant nodulation" (American, Chinese Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 3 -- United States Patent no. 12,404,517, issued on Sept. 2, was assigned to Purdue Research Foundation (West Lafayette, Ind.).

"Rhizobial tRNA-derived small RNAs and uses thereof for regulating plant nodulation" was invented by Jianxin Ma (West Lafayette, Ind.), Bo Ren (Beijing), Jingbo Duan (West Lafayette, Ind.) and Xutong Wang (West Lafayete, Ind.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Rhizobial infection is the key process for initiating symbiotic nitrogen-fixing root nodules in legumes, which requires specific recognition of signal molecules produced by the bacteria and their hosts. Here, it is established that rhizobial tRNA-derived small RNA fragments (tRFs) are crucial...