Patent EP-2468882-A1 (EP)
Title: Aurora kinase polypeptides for identifying fungicidal compounds
Inventor: BRAUN CHRISTOPH ANDREAS
IPC: G01N33/569
Filed: 2010-12-27
Abstract: Identifying fungicides, comprises (a) contacting a combination of a polypeptide having the biological activity of an Aurora kinase (AK) and a polypeptide having the biological function of an Aurora kinase activator (AKA) with a chemical compound or a mixture of chemical compounds, (b) comparing the biological activity of AK from the combination of (a) in the presence of the chemical compound and optionally (c) determining the chemical compound from a mixture which inhibits the biological activity of AK. Identifying fungicides, comprises (a) contacting a combination of a polypeptide having the biological activity of an Aurora kinase (AK) and a polypeptide having the biological function of an Aurora kinase activator (AKA) with a chemical compound or a mixture of chemical compounds, (b) comparing the biological activity of AK from the combination of (a) in the presence of the chemical compound or mixture of chemical compounds having the biological activity of AK from the combination of (a) in the absence of the chemical compound or mixture of compounds and optionally (c) determining the chemical compound from a mixture which inhibits the biological activity of AK, where the polypeptide having the biological activity of AK, contains an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID No: 2 (comprising a fully defined 475 amino acid sequence given in the specification), or an amino acid sequence having at least 80% identity with the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID No: 2, and a polypeptide having the biological function of an AKA contains an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID No: 6 (comprising a fully defined 151 amino acid sequence given in the specification), or an amino acid sequence having at least 80% identity with the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID No: 6. Independent claims are included for: (1) an antibody which specifically binds to an AKA, where the AKA comprises an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 6, or an amino acid sequence having at least 60% identity with SEQ ID NO: 6, where the AKA comprises an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID No: 4 (comprising a fully defined 1730 amino acid sequence given in the specification), SEQ ID No: 14 (comprising a fully defined 568 amino acid sequence given in the specification) or SEQ ID No: 16 (comprising a fully defined 568 amino acid sequence given in the specification) or the AKA is encoded by a nucleic acid sequence which is (a1) a nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID No: 5, (b1) a fragment consisting of at least 15-90 consecutive nucleotides of the nucleotide sequence of (a1) coding for a peptide or at least 91 consecutive nucleotides of the nucleotide sequence of (a) coding for a polypeptide, (c1) nucleotide sequences which hybridize to the sequences under (a1) or (b1) at a hybridization temperature of 20-65[deg] C, (d1) nucleotide sequences which have at least 70% identity to the sequences under (a1) to (c1), (e1) nucleotide sequences which are complementary to the sequences under (a1) to (d1); and (f1) nucleotide sequences encoding due to the degeneracy of the genetic code for the same amino acid sequence such as sequences in (a1) to (e1); (2) producing a combination of AK and AKA, comprising expressing AKA of a nucleic acid encoding the polypeptide, expressing an AK from a nucleic acid and recovering the AK- and AKA-polypeptides, by purifying preferably co-purifying the AKA; and (3) a kit comprising the polypeptide. ACTIVITY : Fungicide. MECHANISM OF ACTION : None given.