Dominant and recessive aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase-deficient mutants of mouse hepatoma line, Hepa-1, and assignment of recessive mutants to three complementation groups.

Fifty-four benzo[a]pyrene (BP)-resistant, aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH)-deficient mutants were found to be recessive, while five were dominant. Hybrids between the former mutants and the wild-type were killed by BP, and possessed AHH activities of at least 0.5 (relative to the wild-type). Dominant-mutant--wild-type hybrids were resistant to BP and had activities of about 0.05. Additional experiments assigned the recessive mutants to three complementation groups, designated A through C. Group-B--group-C hybrids were exceptional in possessing a mean AHH activity (0.36), less than the value (0.5) expected from gene dosage. This deficiency was probably due, in part, to instability of AHH activity in these hybrids. However, all hybrids tested retained stable DNA complements, equal to the sum of those of their parents, for 140 days in culture. Previous studies have shown that group B and group C mutations both affect the functioning of a cytosolic receptor required for AHH induction (1).