Stability of minisatellite loci in the genome of cultured hela cells

The stability of minisatellite loci representing DNA with the tandem organization of repeats is studied. DNA profiles of 194 HeLa clones are identical to the parent culture. They exhibit 36 bands detectable by the minisatellite probe Red4. Since the method ensures the record of changes in minisatellite loci appearing during the first two divisions of parent cell, mutations are assessed in 27,936 locus tests. Hence, the incidence of mutations in the culture is not higher than 3.5×10⁻⁷ per locus/per mitosis, providing that the number of generations in parental homogenous culture is taken into account. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimetal'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 122, No. 9, pp. 311–313, September, 1996