Patent ID: 7276331

Claim:
A method for identifying a candidate agent as a compound that modulates centromere-associated protein E (CENP-E) activity, said method comprising the steps of: (i) providing a substantially purified biologically active CENP-E, wherein said biologically active CENP-E has plus end-directed microtubule motor activity and comprises an amino acid sequence having at least 80% sequence identity with amino acids 1-324 of SEQ ID NO:1; (ii) determining CENP-E activity of said substantially purified CENP-E in the presence of a candidate agent at a control concentration, wherein the CENP-E activity comprises at least one activity selected from the group consisting of plus end-directed microtubule motor activity, ATPase activity, and microtubule binding activity; and (iii) determining said CENP-E activity in the presence of the candidate agent at a test concentration, wherein a change in activity between the test concentration and the control concentration of said candidate agent indicates the identification of a compound that modulates CENP-E activity.