Selecting interspecific human-mouse and Chinese hamster-mouse hybrids using a new half-selection technique with a polyene antibiotic.

Interspecific human-mouse and Chinese hamster-mouse hybrids were isolated from polyethylene glycol fused cells by a new half-selection technique employing a structurally modified polyene macrolide antibiotic, amphotericin B methyl ester (AME), and HAT media. Unfused parental cells were killed as a result of innate sensitivity to AME or their genetic deficiency, absence of thymidine kinase (TK-) or hypoxanthine guanine-phosphoribosyl transferase (HGPRT-). In contrast, hybrid colonies were isolated after two to three weeks growth in three or four changes of HAT-AME media and subsequent growth in HAT media alone. The ability of hybrid cells to proliferate using this selective protocol indicates that genetic complementation resulted, and polyene antibiotic resistance was expressed as a dominant phenotypic property in the hybrids. Hybrid selection was dependent on: (1) the number of cells of each parental cell type co-cultivated; (2) the level of polyene antibiotic administered; and (3) the time interval before selection was initiated. The half-selection technique described in this report is simple to use, very effective in eliminating unfused parental cells and increases the potential types of hybrids which can be formed. Only one parental cell type need contain a biochemical defect, whereas the second parental type can be genetically normal.