Karyological properties of human-mouse somatic hybrids.

Karyological examinations performed 24 hr to 11 days after Sendai virus-induced fusion of mouse cells of the permanent line 3T3 and human diploid cells, suggest that hybrids with extensive loss of human chromosomes derive from fusion involving all the chromosomes of both parental cells. Examination of 39 independent clones isolated from two different crosses between L mouse cells and cells of two permanent human lines, D98/AH2 and VA2, show that the karyotypes of human-mouse hybrids are a function of the interaction between the parental cells: the mouse chromosomal complement may be doubled or not. For the first time, viable hybrids that have retained almost all of the human chromosomes have been isolated.