The EPO and BRPTO are adopting the WIPO Standard ST.26 for the submission of sequence listings in national and international applications filed on or after July 1st, 2022. WIPO Standard ST.26 establishes new rules for the presentation of biological sequences in extensible markup language (XML). This format has many advantages over the former ST.25 (TXT) format, such as being compatible with the requirements of International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration (INSDC) which establishes uniform and synchronized data content to be assessed by many patent Offices in different databases (i.e., DNA Databank of Japan (DDBJ), the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), and the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI or GenBank)). Moreover, the new format enables the inclusion of information regarding branched sequences and sequences containing nucleotide analogues or D-amino acids, for instance.
In general, the submission of sequence listings is required when the object of protection of the patent application refers to one or more nucleotide and/or amino acid sequences that are essential for the invention. Read more