Patent ID: 7723018

Claim:
A method for identifying a compound that modulates the cell cycle, the method comprising the steps of: (i) contacting a polypeptide comprising an E2 polypeptide with an amino acid sequence having at least 90% identity to SEQ ID NO: 2 with the compound, wherein said E2 polypeptide has ubiquitin conjugation enzyme activity; (ii) determining the effect of the compound upon the E2 polypeptide in vitro using a ubiquitin ligase assay; (iii) selecting a compound that has an effect upon the E2 polypeptide as measured by the ubiquitin ligase assay; (iv) determining the effect of the compound selected in (iii) on the cell cycle using a cell cycle assay in a cell comprising the E2 polypeptide; and (v) selecting a compound determined in (iv) to have an effect on the cell cycle, thereby identifying a compound that modulates the cell cycle.