Here we describe a standard arginyltransferase assay in vitro using bacterially expressed purified ATE1 in a system with minimal number of components (Arg, tRNA, Arg-tRNA synthetase, and arginylation substrate). Assays of this type have first been developed in the 1980s using crude ATE1 preparations from cells and tissues and then perfected recently for the use with bacterially expressed recombinant protein. This assay represents a simple and efficient way to measure ATE1 activity.