1-55. (canceled)
56. A method of forming an aggregate of objects in a channel comprising a liquid, said method comprising:
a) providing objects in at least a region of the channel, and
b) forming an aggregate of said objects by submitting them to a modulated pulsed acoustic field,
wherein the modulated pulsed acoustic field applied at step b) is modulated in amplitude.
57. A method according to claim 56, wherein the modulated pulsed acoustic field comprises a repetition of a plurality of groups of acoustic wave pulses, said pulses having, among a given group, substantially the same amplitude and frequency, and said groups being separated between each other by a period having a non-zero duration wherein no acoustic wave is applied.
58. A method according to claim 56, wherein the modulated pulsed acoustic field comprises a repetition of a plurality of groups of acoustic wave pulses, said pulses having, among a given group, substantially the same amplitude and frequency, and said groups being separated between each other by a period having a non-zero duration wherein an acoustic wave is applied, said acoustic wave having at least one extremum of the absolute value of its amplitude that is different from the highest amplitude of the acoustic wave pulses belonging to the group just preceding said period.
59. A method according to claim 56, wherein a standing acoustic wave is created along a transverse dimension of the channel at step b) during the application of the modulated pulsed acoustic field.
60. A method according to claim 59, wherein said transverse dimension is the thickness of the channel.
61. A method according to claim 56, the modulated pulsed acoustic field comprising a repetition of a plurality of groups of acoustic wave pulses, said pulses having, among a given group, substantially the same amplitude and frequency, and each of said groups of acoustic wave pulses comprising 10 or more acoustic wave pulses.
62. A method according to claim 56, the modulated pulsed acoustic field comprising a repetition of a plurality of groups of acoustic wave pulses, said pulses having, among a group, substantially the same amplitude and frequency, at least one group of acoustic wave pulses lasting a duration t1 that is greater than or equal to 0.01 ms.
63. A method according to claim 56, the modulated pulsed acoustic field comprising a repetition of a plurality of groups of acoustic wave pulses, said pulses having, among a given group, substantially the same amplitude and frequency and step b) comprising submitting the objects to at least 100 groups of acoustic wave pulses.
64. A method according to claim 56, the modulated pulsed acoustic field comprising a repetition of a plurality of groups of acoustic wave pulses, said pulses having, among a given group, substantially the same amplitude and frequency and at least one period separating two successive groups of acoustic wave pulses having a duration t2 that is greater than or equal to 0.05 ms.
65. A method according to claim 56, the modulated pulsed acoustic field comprising a repetition of a plurality of groups of acoustic wave pulses, said pulses having, among a given group, substantially the same amplitude and frequency and at least one period separating two successive groups of acoustic wave pulses having a duration t2 that is less than or equal to 0.5 s.
66. A method according to claim 56, the modulated pulsed acoustic field comprising a repetition of a plurality of groups of acoustic wave pulses, said pulses having, among a given group, substantially the same amplitude and frequency and wherein at least a couple of consecutive group of acoustic wave pulses of duration t1 and period separating two successive groups of acoustic wave pulses of duration t2 have a pulse mode factor
P
mf
=
t
1
t
1
+
t
2
that is greater than or equal to 0.01.
67. A method according to claim 56, the modulated pulsed acoustic field comprising a repetition of a plurality of groups of acoustic wave pulses, said pulses having, among a given group, substantially the same amplitude and frequency and wherein at least a couple of consecutive group of acoustic wave pulses of duration t1 and period separating two successive groups of acoustic wave pulses of duration t2 have a pulse mode factor
P
mf
=
t
1
t
1
+
t
2
that is less than or equal to 0.95.
68. A method according to claim 56, at least two couples of consecutive group of acoustic wave pulses of duration t1 and period separating two successive groups of acoustic wave pulses of duration t2 having a different pulse mode factor
P
mf
=
t
1
t
1
+
t
2
.
69. A method according to claim 56, all the couples of consecutive group of acoustic wave pulses of duration t1 and period separating two successive groups of acoustic wave pulses of duration t2 having substantially the same pulse mode factor
P
mf
=
t
1
t
1
+
t
2
.
70. A method according to claim 56, the modulated pulsed acoustic field comprising a repetition of a plurality of groups of acoustic wave pulses, said pulses having, among a given group, substantially the same amplitude and frequency and said groups of acoustic wave pulses being periodically spaced between each other by a period having a non-zero duration.
71. A method according to claim 56, wherein the created aggregate is a 2D-aggregate.
72. A method according to claim 56, wherein the channel comprises at least a first and a second wall defining an inner volume wherein said liquid is present and wherein the created aggregate is not in contact with said walls during step b).
73. A method according to claim 56 wherein the channel has, over at least a portion of its length, a ratio widththickness andor lengththickness that is greater than or equal to 10.
74. A method according to a claim 56, wherein the upper andor lower surface of the created aggregate has a temporal average speed of growth during step b) that is less than or equal to 0.1 mm2s.
75. A method according to claim 56, wherein, during step b), at least one feature of the aggregate is measured and at least one feature of the modulated pulsed acoustic field is modified in function of this measure.
76. A method according to claim 75, the measured feature being the instantaneous temporal speed of growth of the upper andor lower surface of the created aggregate.
77. A method according to claim 56, wherein the formed aggregate of objects has a size of 1 nm or more.
78. A method according to claim 56, the objects being mono or poly disperse biological cells.
79. A method according to claim 56, the average size of the objects being less than or equal to 100 \u03bcm.
80. A method according to claim 56, wherein the Reynolds number of the flow is 10 or less during step b).
81. A method according to claim 56, the liquid not be flowing during step b).
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A seed of cotton cultivar 01X06, representative seed of said cultivar having been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-6595.
2. A cotton plant, or a part thereof, produced by growing the seed of claim 1.
3. A tissue culture of regenerable cells produced from the plant of claim 2.
4. Protoplasts produced from the tissue culture of claim 3.
5. The tissue culture of claim 3, wherein cells of the tissue culture are produced from a plant part selected from the group consisting of leaf, pollen, embryo, root, root tip, anther, pistil, flower, seed, boll and stem.
6. A cotton plant regenerated from the tissue culture of claim 3, said plant having all the morphological and physiological characteristics of cultivar 01X06, representative seed of said cultivar having been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-6595.
7. A method for producing an F1 hybrid cotton seed, comprising crossing the plant of claim 2 with a different cotton plant and harvesting the resultant F1 hybrid cotton seed.
8. A method for producing a male sterile cotton plant comprising transforming the cotton plant of claim 2 with a nucleic acid molecule that confers male sterility.
9. A male sterile cotton plant produced by the method of claim 8.
10. A method of producing an herbicide resistant cotton plant comprising transforming the cotton plant of claim 2 with a transgene that confers herbicide resistance.
11. An herbicide resistant cotton plant produced by the method of claim 10.
12. The cotton plant of claim 11, wherein the transgene confers resistance to an herbicide selected from the group consisting of imidazolinone, sulfonylurea, glyphosate, glufosinate, L-phosphinothricin, triazine and benzonitrile.
13. A method of producing an insect resistant cotton plant comprising transforming the cotton plant of claim 2 with a transgene that confers insect resistance.
14. An insect resistant cotton plant produced by the method of claim 13.
15. The cotton plant of claim 14, wherein the transgene encodes a Bacillus thunngiensis endotoxin.
16. A method of producing a disease resistant cotton plant comprising transforming the cotton plant of claim 2 with a transgene that confers disease resistance.
17. A disease resistant cotton plant produced by the method of claim 16.
18. A method of producing a cotton plant with modified fatty acid metabolism or modified carbohydrate metabolism comprising transforming the cotton plant of claim 2 with a transgene encoding a protein selected from the group consisting of stearyl-ACP desaturase, fructosyltransferase, levansucrase, alpha-amylase, invertase and starch branching enzyme.
19. A cotton plant produced by the method of claim 18.
20. A cotton plant, or part thereof, having all the physiological and morphological characteristics of cultivar 01X06, representative seed of said cultivar having been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-6595.
21. A method of introducing a desired trait into cotton cultivar 01X06 comprising:
(a) crossing 01X06 plants grown from 01X06 seed, representative seed of which has been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-6595, with plants of another cotton cultivar that comprise a desired trait to produce F1 progeny plants, wherein the desired trait is selected from the group consisting of male sterility, herbicide resistance, insect resistance and disease resistance;
(b) selecting F1 progeny plants that have the desired trait to produce selected F1 progeny plants;
(c) crossing the selected progeny plants with the 01X06 plants to produce backcross progeny plants;
(d) selecting for backcross progeny plants that have the desired trait and physiological and morphological characteristics of cotton cultivar 01X06 listed in Table 1 to produce selected backcross progeny plants; and
(e) repeating steps (c) and (d) three or more times in succession to produce selected fourth or higher backcross progeny plants that comprise the desired trait and all of the physiological and morphological characteristics of cotton cultivar 01X06 listed in Table 1 as determined at the 5% significance level when grown in the same environmental conditions.
22. A plant produced by the method of claim 21, wherein the plant has the desired trait and all of the physiological and morphological characteristics of cotton cultivar 01X06 listed in Table 1 as determined at the 5% significance level when grown in the same environmental conditions.
23. The plant of claim 22 wherein the desired trait is herbicide resistance and the resistance is conferred to an herbicide selected from the group consisting of imidazolinone, sulfonylurea, glyphosate, glufosinate, L-phosphinothricin, triazine and benzonitrile.
24. The plant of claim 22 wherein the desired trait is insect resistance and the insect resistance is conferred by a transgene encoding a Bacillus thuringiensis endotoxin.
25. The plant of claim 22 wherein the desired trait is male sterility and the trait is conferred by a cytoplasmic nucleic acid molecule that confers male sterility.