Ganglioside patterns and phenotypic characteristics in a normal variant and a transformed back variant of a simian virus 40-induced hamster tumor cell line.

Ganglioside patterns of a cloned Simian virus 40- (SV40) induced hamster tumor cell (Cl(2)TSV(5)-S), its normal variant (Cl(2)TSV(5)-R) which are Cl(2)TSV(5)-S gradually adapted to grow in the presence of 2 microg/ml actinomycin D and exhibit certain normal phenotypic characteristics, and its back variant (Cl(2)TSV(5)-RR), which are Cl(2)TSV(5)-R cells grown in the absence of actinomycin D for more than 60 passages and which exhibit greater phenotypic similarity to Cl(2)TSV(5)-S cells, have been analyzed. All three cell lines contain N(acetylneuraminyl) galactosylglycosyl ceramide (hematoside, GM(3)), N-acetylgalactosaminyl (N-acetylneuraminyl) galactosylglucosyl ceramide (GM(2)), and a higher ganglioside tentatively identified as disialohematoside. However, Cl(2)TSV(5)-R have more GM(2) than Cl(2)TSV(5)-S whereas Cl(2)TSV(5)-RR contain an intermediate amount of GM(2). The amount of GM(2) is correlative with the activity of UDP-N-acetylgalactosamine: hematoside N-acetylgalactosaminyl transferase in the extract of the three cell lines and with their agglutination by wheat germ agglutinin.