A temperature-sensitive mutant tsBN63 cell line was isolated by the fluorodeoxyuridine method from the BHK21/13 cell line after mutagenesis with nitrosoguanidine. When cultures of tsBN63 cells growing asynchronously at 33.5 degrees C were shifted to 39.5 degrees C, a nonpermissive temperature, the ability for protein synthesis was rapidly reduced and cell proliferation stopped mainly at G1 phase, and partly at G2 phase. Synchronized cultures of tsBN63 cells did not commence DNA synthesis when shifted up in G1 phase. The human gene complementing the tsBN63 mutation was cloned by DNA-mediated gene transfer and its cDNA of 1.1 kb conferring ts+ phenotype on tsBN63 cells was isolated from the cDNA library of Raj (mer+) cells with a frequency of 10(-3). On the basis of the determined nucleotide sequence, the isolated human gene turned out to be the X chromosomal RPS4X encoding the ribosomal protein S4. The size of the CCG2 gene was estimated to be about 12 kb by complementation analysis of the tsBN63 mutation with cloned genomic DNA.