Patent ID: 9618521
Date: 2017-04-11
CPC Classifications: A01K,A61K,C07K,C12Q,G01N,Y10S

Claim:
1. A method of selecting a compound having potential contraceptive activity, the method comprising: (a) contacting a candidate compound with a sperm cell expressing a protein having at least 95% amino acid sequence identity with the CatSper2 protein of SEQ ID NO: 2 or 6, wherein the nucleotide sequence is derived from SEQ ID NO: 1 or 5, or variants thereof that differ from SEQ ID NO: 1 or 5 by substitution of at least one synonymous codon, and wherein the protein has CatSper2 activity; (b) measuring an indicator of CatSper2 activity in the cell, wherein the indicator is a measure of sperm motility; (c) determining whether said candidate compound caused a decrease in CatSper2 activity in the cell relative to CatSper2 activity prior to contact with the candidate compound; and (d) toxicity profiling the candidate compound; and (e) selecting said candidate compound that causes a decrease in CatSper2 activity as having potential contraceptive activity.