Pleiotropic phenotype of colchicine-resistant CHO cells: cross-resistance and collateral sensitivity

Colchicine resistant (CHR) mutants of CHO cells with reduced permeability to colchicine display extensive cross-resistance to a number of apparently unrelated compounds including puromycin, daunomycin, emetine, ethidium bromide and gramicidin D. A positive correlation was observed between the level of cross-resistance and the relative hydrophobicity of these compounds. The mutants also showed increased (collateral) sensitivity to local anaesthetics (procaine, tetracaine, xylocaine and propanolol), steroid hormones (1-dehydrotestosterone, corticosterone and 5beta-pregnan-3,20-dione) and some Triton X compounds. In general, the degree of the pleiotropic response (cross-resistance or collateral sensitivity) correlated with the degree of colchicine resistance in mutant lines. These results are consistent with the pleiotropic phenotype being the result of the same mutation(s) which confer colchicine resistance and support a model for resistance in which the reduced permeability is assumed to be the result of an alteration in the modulation of the fluidity of the surface membrane.