Establishment of a triploid V79 cell line from tetraploid cells obtained through polyploidization using K-252a.

Triploid V79 cells were established from tetraploid cells. Diploid V79 cells were polyploidized by K-252a, an inhibitor of protein kinases, and then released from the drug for 10 days. At that time, the cell population was a mixture of diploid and tetraploid cells. Triploid cells were obtained through the cloning of tetraploid cells. They had 33 chromosomes (1.5 times the diploid number) and showed a karyotype of three homologueous chromosomes. The duration of the G1, S and G2/M phases was almost the same as for diploid cells. The cell volume of triploid V79 cells was about two times that of the diploid cells. An explanation for the diploid-tetraploid-triploid transition is proposed.