Pursuant to the Notices No. 1/2021 and 1/2022, the Argentine Patent Office adopted Standard ST.26 of WIPO for the filing of sequence listings and the transition date of July 1, 2022, for its implementation

In consequence, all patent applications (divisional application as well) to be filed after this transition date, must include the sequence listing in XML format (eXtensible Markup Language) and comply with the requirements as provided by the Standard ST.26. Those applications filed before said date, but in which the sequence listing is still pending should follow Standard ST.25 of the WIPO (txt file) even if the sequence listing is being filed after this transition date.

The Standard ST.26, apart from a new format, introduces changes in the general information part of the sequence listing such as title, applicant, earliest priority data, and inventors. As to the definitions of the sequences, the Standard ST.26 provides, among others, a new expression for identifying amino acids which should be represented by a single letter abbreviation instead of the three letters abbreviation, required under ST.25

Also, ST.26 modifies the size of the sequences that can be included in the listing since these can no longer have less than ten nucleotides or less than four amino acids. Moreover, additional types of sequence can be included (for example, branched sequences, sequences with D-amino acids, nucleotide analogues).

One of the reasons underlying this change is the lack of clarity of ASCII text format sequence listings (Standard ST.25). When introducing theses sequences in public data bases such as GenBank some information was lost and therefore their correct and full disclosure was troublesome to accomplish. Although both formats are likely to coexist for a time, the change will bring about a positive impact on data base searches for applicants and inventors, as well as examiners among patent offices.

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