[A further study of the mutation process in Chinese hamster cells in vitro]

Spontaneous mutagenesis and mutagenesis induced by chemical mutagens in culture Chinese hamster cells were investigated. Appearance of mutations controlling the resistance to 6-mercaptopurine (6M) and reverse mutations to sensitivity was studied. The rate of spontaneous mutations of 6M resistance in cells studied was found to be sufficiently stable: it was independent on the repeated freezing of these cells and the duration of their cultivation. 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BUdR) has been shown to induce mutations to 6M resistance in cells of the 237i clone; the rate of induced mutations in some experiments as compared to the rate of spontaneous mutations was 1-2 orders higher. No clear-cut delay of phenotypic expression of BUdR-induced mutations was found. Seven independently arisen mutant clones were isolated. Five of them appeared spontaneously and two clones were induced by BUdR. Three spontaneously arisen clones were found to be reversible to sensitivity. The rate of reverse mutations in cells of the other four clones, did not exceed (2,3-3,5)-10(-6) per cell per generation. The rate of spontaneous reverse mutations in these clones was less at least one order lower as compared to the rate of spontaneous mutations to 6M-resistance. The attempts to induce reverse mutations to sensitivity by N-nitrosomethylurea in spontaneously reversible resistant cells and by BUdR in mutant cells arisen as a result of the treatment with the same agent proved unsuccessful. A method of estimation of experiment's resolving power is described for cases, when no expected events (in our study reverse mutations) were observed.