生物技术在烟草发酵领域的专利布局现状及热点分析

Current status and hot spot analysis on patent portfolio of biotechnology in tobacco fermentation

为使我国烟草行业相关科技人员准确把握烟叶发酵的专利申请现状、研判今后的发展趋势,基于国家知识产权局1985—2019年度公开/公告的318件相关专利,进行了统计分析和专利技术挖掘。结果显示:(1)烟叶人工发酵技术领域的专利申请量整体不多,但至2009年后有缓慢升高态势。(2)国内烟草行业在该领域的专利布局具有明显数量优势,以云南中烟工业有限责任公司(云南中烟)的专利数量最多,其次是河南中烟和湖北中烟。(3)国内烟草行业单位与国内大学合作申请数量较多,且有明显的地域性特点。(4)该领域IPC技术主题分布较为集中,主要涉及A24B、C12N(细菌及其培养基)和C12R(芽孢杆菌属)3个小类,且共现频繁。(5)在具体技术领域方面,绝大多数专利涉及微生物或生物酶对烟叶的人工发酵,功能效果主要为降刺增香和加速烟叶发酵2个方面,是专利布局的重点,技术也相对较为成熟。在微生物菌剂方面,以芽孢杆菌属的应用最多,主要有枯草芽孢杆菌,其次是短小芽孢杆菌和解淀粉芽孢杆菌3种。在生物酶制剂方面,纤维素酶、果胶酶、蛋白酶和淀粉酶4种是专利布局的热点区域。(6)在超快速发酵技术方面,整体上,相比于微生物和微生物+生物酶混合制剂处理技术,单独采用酶类制剂(含复合酶)处理烟叶,在缩短发酵时间方面效果更为显著。另外,尽管微生物的来源主要是烟叶或植烟土壤,但是在具体推广应用前,生物制剂(微生物或酶)的安全性评估仍值得关注。

In order to help relevant scientific and technological personnel in tobacco industry to accurately grasp the status on the development of tobacco fermentation,statistical analysis and patent mining were carried out based on a total of 318 tobacco fermentation patents published by the State Intellectual Property Office from 1985 to 2019.The results showed that:1)The overall number of patent applications related to fermentation was not large,but it was slowly increasing after 2009.2)The patent coverage from the Chinese domestic tobacco companies in this field showed quantitative advantages.China Tobacco Yunnan Industrial Limited Corporation possessed the largest number of patents,followed by China Tobacco Henan and Hubei Industrial Limited Corporations.3)There were a large number of applications from the cooperation between domestic tobacco industry units and domestic universities,and it showed clear regional characteristics.4)The distribution of IPC technologies in this field concentrated mainly on A24 B,C12 N(bacteria and their culture media)and C12 R(Bacillus spp.),and their co-occurrence.5)In terms of specific technical fields,the majority of patents involved the artificial fermentation of tobacco leaves by microorganisms or bio-enzymes,aimed at reducing irritation and increasing aroma and accelerating fermentation.These two aspects were the key points of patent coverage and the technologies were relatively mature.In terms of microbial agents,Bacillus was the most widely used,mainly including Bacillus subtilis,followed by Bacillus pumilus and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens.In terms of enzymes,cellulase,pectinase,protease and amylase were the hot spots.6)In terms of patented technology for super fast fermentation,compared with the treating technologies of microorganisms and microorganisms+bio-enzymes mixed preparations,the use of enzyme(including complex enzymes)alone to treat tobacco leaves was more effective in shortening the fermentation time.In addition,although the present sources of microorganisms were mainly those found in tobacco leaves or tobacco-growing soil,safety assessment of biological agents(microorganism or enzyme)used was still worthy of attention before wider applications.