Patent ID: 7183106

Claim:
A eukaryotic expression vector comprising the bacterial Inosine 5′-monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) nucleic acid sequence wherein: said IMPDH nucleic acid sequence is operably linked to at least one transcription regulatory sequence to confer expression of said bacterial IMPDH by a eukaryotic host upon transfection with said expression vector; and wherein the bacterial IMPDH nucleic acid sequence is a nucleic acid sequence selected from the group of nucleic acid sequences consisting of: a nucleic acid sequence at least 95% identical to SEQ ID NO: 1; a nucleic acid sequence that encodes a sequence of amino acids comprising SEQ ID NO: 2; and a nucleic acid sequence that encodes a polypeptide having a sequence at least 95% identical to SEQ ID NO. 2.