Simian virus 40-chinese hamster kidney cell interaction. I. Relationship of chromosome changes to transformation.

After approximately 20 in vitro passages, Chinese hamster kidney (CHK) cell cultures transformed upon exposure to different strains of SV 40 can show a diploid modal chromosome number of 22 with chromosome counts exclusively or essentially in the diploid range (20-25). In primary culture and at the 5th-7th subculture, tumors produced in nude mice by such cells can display a diploid modal value of 22 chromosomes. Numerical chromosome variations and karyotype abnormalities observed in CHK cells transformed upon infection with SV 40, are apparently indistinguishable from those that can be observed in uninfected CHK cells undergoing "spontaneous"-transformation. These results indicate that polyploidization is not a necessary step either in the process of transformation or in that of tumorigenic conversion with SV 40.