Cell cycle control is aberrant in Chinese hamster ovary cell mutants exhibiting apoptosis after serum deprivation.

We isolated mutants of Chinese hamster ovary cells that exhibit excessive apoptosis after serum deprivation. In the medium containing 10% serum, the growth rates of the mutants were 1.4 to 1.5-fold faster than those of wild-type cells. Whereas the cell cycle of wild-type cells was arrested at the G1 phase after serum deprivation, the cell cycle of the mutant cells was not fully arrested at this phase, suggesting that cell cycle regulation was disorganized in the mutants. The mutants were highly sensitive to a nucleotide-analogue 5-fluorouracil in the absence of serum, whereas wild-type cells were resistant to the drug. Based on the sensitivity to the drug after serum deprivation, we could classify the mutants into dominant groups and at least two recessive complementation groups. Thus, these mutants presumably contain different lesions in gene(s) required for cell cycle regulation and apoptosis.