Uncovering new substrates for Aurora A kinase

Aurora A is a serine/threonine kinase that is essential for a wide variety of cell‐cycle‐related events, but only a small number of its substrates are known. We present and validate a strategy by which to identify Aurora A substrates and their phosphorylation sites. We developed a computational approach integrating various types of biological information to generate a list of 90 potential Aurora substrates, with a prediction accuracy of about 80%. We also demonstrated the specific phosphorylation of NUSAP (nucleolar and spindle‐associated protein) by Aurora A in vivo . Our results provide a means by which to develop an understanding of Aurora A function and suggest unexpected roles for this kinase.