Methods for identifying antimitotic agents

摘要

Antimitotic and antifungal agents are identified in screens comprising the steps of (a) contacting in culture first and second cells with an agent not previously known to be associated with mitotic arrest, wherein said cells differ in that the second cell has a functionally disrupted mitotic checkpoint; and (b) detecting a resultant sensitivity of the cells to the agent, whereby a higher sensitivity of the second cell identifies the agent as an antimitotic agent. The functionally disrupted mitotic checkpoint may be provided by a genetic mutation in a mad or bub gene, wherein mitotic arrest effects death of the cell. Yeast provide particularly useful cells for high throughput screens, including yeast transgenic in a human tubulin gene.