[Characteristics of mutants induced by the c-Ha-ras1 oncogene and the nature of the oncogene's mutagenic action].

Chinese hamster cell clones of independent origin, which were resistant to purine base analogs and induced by the activated c-Ha-ras1 oncogene, were isolated. It was shown that the isolated clones stably retained resistance after cultivation on a medium without an analog, confirming mutational nature of the resistance. Most of the clones are able to grow on the HAT medium, retaining partial activity of the hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase enzyme (HPRT); i.e., they are leaky mutants. Analysis by blot-hybridization did not reveal the presence of human ras-sequences in any of the mutants studied. Evidently, the mutagenic action of the oncogene is not insertional, and resistance is not linked to the stably integrated oncogene. The mutagenic effect of c-Ha-ras1 is likely to be of the "hit-and-run" type.