Flow cytogenetics of uncloned and cloned Chinese hamster cells

Flow cytometry has greatly facilitated the routine use of DNA content as a cellular indicator of the stages of the cell cycle and ploidy. DNA content can also be used to distinguish individual chromosomes. Fluorescent staining of chromosome DNA was done with a combination of ethidium bromide and mithramycin in hypotonic solution. Subsequent detergent treatment of the cells with Triton X-100 facilitated chromosome isolation. DNA flow cytometry of chromosomes of four established uncloned Chinese master cell lines showed 10 to 12 major subpopulations of chromosomes with varying degrees of overlap in the range of low and intermediate DNA content. Cloning of B14F28 cells, the line with the largest heterogeneity in chromosome number and DNA content, considerably reduced the dispersion in chromosome number and improved the resolution of DNA content distributions. Thus, cloned cells with a relatively homogeneous karyotype permit better discrimination of chromosome subpopulations by DNA content than uncloned cells and provide a more sensitive system to study mutagenic effects.