The widespread nature of phenotypic variability in hepatomas and cell lines, in the form of a geometric series.

The phenomenon of geometric phenotypic variability is described and its widespread occurrence is established by a new analysis of data from a literature survey of quantitative variation in 39 different enzymes and other cell products in hepatomas and cell lines. The range of variation from hepatoma to hepatoma or from cell line to cell line was between 3- and 700-fold, depending on the particular cell product. By collating together and normalizing the data for the enzymes and other cell products surveyed, it was demonstrated in a statistically valid manner that the quantitative variation for most, if not all, of the enzymes and serum albumin was not random, but followed a geometric series, the consecutive terms of which differed by a factor of square root 2. In addition, examples are presented to show that quantitative inheritance in normal tissues also occurs along this geometric series.