Viral-induced fusion of human cells. II. Heterokaryocytes between human cells from different donors, and between human cells and those from other species: Formation and properties

Abstract

A simple method is described for effecting the formation of heterokaryocytes between different lines of human diploid fibroblasts, and between human diploid fibroblasts and cultured cells derived from other species. In the case of mixed monolayer cultures of human diploid fibroblasts exposed to UV-inactivated Sendai virus, the proportion of nuclei in heterokaryocytes is between 25 and 35%. The heterokaryocytes engage in de novo protein synthesis. No evidence of hybrid enzymes was found in mixed cultures of human and mouse cells which had been exposed to Sendai virus and which therefore presumably contained mouse-human heterokaryocytes. However, with the available data, it is not possible to distinguish between the absence of synthesis of hybrid enzymes and the synthesis of hybrid enzymes in amounts insufficient to permit their detection.