The Enhancer of Trithorax and Polycomb Corto Interacts with Cyclin G in Drosophila

BACKGROUND: Polycomb (PcG) and trithorax (trxG) genes encode proteins involved in the maintenance of gene expression patterns, notably Hox genes, throughout development. PcG proteins are required for long-term gene repression whereas TrxG proteins are positive regulators that counteract PcG action. PcG and TrxG proteins form large complexes that bind chromatin at overlapping sites called Polycomb and Trithorax Response Elements (PRE/TRE). A third class of proteins, so-called "Enhancers of Trithorax and Polycomb" (ETP), interacts with either complexes, behaving sometimes as repressors and sometimes as activators. The role of ETP proteins is largely unknown. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In a two-hybrid screen, we identified Cyclin G (CycG) as a partner of the Drosophila ETP Corto. Inactivation of CycG by RNA interference highlights its essential role during development. We show here that Corto and CycG directly interact and bind to each other in embryos and S2 cells. Moreover, CycG is targeted to polytene chromosomes where it co-localizes at multiple sites with Corto and with the PcG factor Polyhomeotic (PH). We observed that corto is involved in maintaining Abd-B repression outside its normal expression domain in embryos. This could be achieved by association between Corto and CycG since both proteins bind the regulatory element iab-7 PRE and the promoter of the Abd-B gene. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results suggest that CycG could regulate the activity of Corto at chromatin and thus be involved in changing Corto from an Enhancer of TrxG into an Enhancer of PcG

Profiling Technological Competencies of Companies: A Case Study Based on the Theory

The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (Russian acronym: TRIZ) provides several new ways for finding creative problem solutions. In addition to TRIZ as it is used for generating inventions, some of its instruments can be applied for strategic management support. In combination with patent databases, TRIZ can be used for profiling technological competencies of inventors and companies to support strategic decisions. This article demonstrates profiling of technological competencies, using a complex case study of a leading German company. In this case study a five-step process, developed by the main author, has been applied. After having analysed patents and patent applications of three major companies in the field of floorcleaning aids, three characteristic profiles have been identified. This led to important activities in the area of R&D of the company doing the analysis, as well as to decisions of strategic relevance

Technological Drivers of Urban Innovation: A T-DNA Analysis Based on US Patent Data

Fast urbanization leads to several challenges in many cities all over the world. Thus, urban innovation is considered a common approach to deal with such questions. Although technologies are important factors in urban innovation, the development of technologies over time, how they affect urban innovation, in which relationship they stand to each other, and how they can be evaluated in a system approach are still not clear. To answer these questions, in our study, a Technology-DNA (T-DNA) is applied to US patents, which represent the most developed market in the world. Our paper provides some theoretical points in urban innovation and a systematic classification of technologies in this field based on patent classes. In addition, this research shows technological drivers in different system levels in urban innovation, especially in the super-system (representing city infrastructures) in detail. Therefore, it may help researchers, managers, politicians, and planners to focus on important technologies and to integrate technological drivers in urban innovation in their plans

Bionics in patents – semantic-based analysis for the exploitation of bionic principles in patents

AbstractIn this paper we present a sophisticated method to exploit bionic inventions in patents with the help of semantic patent analysis. This method enables users to visualize similarities in patent content in a semantic patent map. These maps could be used for strategic decision-making, e.g. for developing technologies and commercial usage and – no less important – for providing new insights to researchers and practitioners involved in bionics. A case study of US-based patents between 1976 and 2006 clearly shows that most bionic inventions are patented as medical applications in the area of surgery. Other fields of technological applications, however, apparently do not make use of bionic ideas for solving inventive problems. As a result, bionics may provide great potential for solving technical problems that needs to be exploited, e.g. perhaps to be carried out with the help of TRIZ

Patinformatics as a business process: A guideline through patent research tasks and tools

Since Trippe [1] introduced the term 'patinformatics' a lot of progress has been made in this particular field of information science. However, there is still need for a more comprehensive framework to structure the variety of tasks related to 'patinformatics', to highlight essential functions within the patinformatics process and to identify those process parts, which are supported by currently available software tools, and others, which are not. In this paper we apply business process modeling to describe the patinformatics process for supporting managerial decision making. The process model enables an overview of major tasks within patinformatics and links them to currently available tools. This paper provides a guideline through patent research for most users of patent information. It may also be employed as a fundamental model for the comparison of patinformatics software applications and approaches.Patinformatics Patent research tasks Patent research tool Process modeling Event-driven process chain Pre-processing Patent analysis Discovered knowledge