Colchicine resistance in mammalian cell lines.

Colchicine-resistant variants derived from mouse and Syrian hamster lines are described. The resistant cells do not appear to be true mutants, since they appear at a high frequency, unaffected by treatment with ethyl methyl sulphonate, and are unstable in the absence of the drug. They are cross-resistant to other drugs, show a reduced rate of binding of colchicine in monolayer, and give extracts with colchicine-binding properties identical to those of the wild type. Thus the resistance is due to a permeability barrier. The naturally occurring resistance of the Syrian hamster line is specific for colchicine, and may be due to a specific permeability barrier. The Syrian hamster line is also shown to have an extra colchicine-binding pool.