A comparison of the radiation-induced mutation at the HGPRT locus in V79 and BHK cells.

Mutation response at the HGPRT locus has been compared in two differing cell lines: V79/4, an aneuploid Chinese-hamster fibroblast line with a complement of 20 chromosomes, and BHK21-C13, a diploid Syrian-hamster fibroblast line with a complement of 44 chromosomes. The data presented show that BHK is slightly more radiosensitive than V79/4; however, the toxicity curves and expression times are similar for both cell lines. If radiosensitivity is taken into account, a common line can be drawn for radiation mutagenesis. We conclude from the data that radiation-induced mutagenesis is broadly equivalent in the two cell lines examined, and is not dependent on the chromosome complement.