Erythroid cell differentiation: murine erythroleukemia cell variant with unique pattern of induction by polar compounds.

The murine-virus-infected erythroleukemia cell system provides an opportunity to examine regulatory mechanisms controlling cytodifferentiation. A cloned cell line (DR10c3) resistant to the erythropoiesis-inducing effect of dimethylsulfoxide (Me2SO) was isolated from the Me2SO-sensitive line DS19. DR10c3 is characterized as follows: (1) the uptake of [3H]Me2SO is similar to that in DS19; (2) cell growth with and without Me2SO is similar to that of DS19; (3) resistance is relatively stable; (4) the karyotype of DR10c3 reveals an average loss of five chromosomes per cell, but is otherwise similar to that of DS19; (5) total protein and globin synthesis by cells cultured 4 days with or without Me2SO is similar to these syntheses in DS19 cultured without Me2SO; (6) virtually no globin mRNA is detectable after 3 days in Me2SO, as assayed both by RNA-complementary DNA hybridization and by the heterologous cell-free protein-synthesizing system; (7) other polar compounds, N-methylpyrrolidinone, 1-methyl-2-piperidone, N, N-dimethylacetamide, and N-methylacetamide, induce erythroid differentiation in DR10c3, and the accumulation of alpha- and beta-globin chains is indistinguishable from that in DS19; and (8) the concentration optima for induction of differentiation by all these compounds are identical for DR10c3 and DS19.