Inheritance of Capability of Human Esophageal Epithelial Cells to Grow with Diverse Carbohydrates.

Human esophageal epithelial cells (Minn. 55-12-1 strain) in serum medium microbiologically depleted of glucose were unable to grow with lactose, raffinose, trehalose, turanose, melezitose, melibiose or arabinose as sole carbon sources. Cultures in depleted medium grew well with maltose and occasionally with sucrose by production of reducing sugar through serum or cell-serum activity. Ability to grow in glucose-depleted medium containing fructose, xylose, and galactose was inherited. Acquired xylose capability of cultures appeared to result from selective enrichment of populations with constitutively xylose-capable cells. Expression of capability of cultures to grow in galactose medium was modified reversibly by prior exposure to galactose or glucose.