What are the file format requirements for submitting a “Sequence Listing” as an ASCII plain text file?

According to MPEP 2425, the ASCII plain text file for a “Sequence Listing” must meet the following requirements:

• Must be compatible with PC or Mac® computers and MS-DOS®, MS-Windows®, Mac OS®, or Unix®/Linux® operating systems
• Must be in ASCII plain text format, allowing all printable characters but no nonprintable characters (except ASCII CRLF or LF as line terminators)
• Must be named with a .txt extension and follow specific naming conventions
• Must contain no more than 74 printable characters per line
• Must be a continuous file without pagination or hard page breaks

As stated in 37 CFR 1.824(a), “A ‘Sequence Listing’ under § 1.821(c)(1) and the CRF required by § 1.821(e) submitted as an ASCII plain text file may be created by any means, such as text editors, nucleotide/amino acid sequence editors, or other custom computer programs; however, the ASCII plain text file must conform to the following requirements:” The regulation then lists the specific requirements mentioned above.

To learn more:

• Sequence Listing
• ASCII plain text
• file format
• patent application
• biotechnology