When Chinese hamster lung (CHL) cells were cultured in medium containing 25 microM cadmium chloride, resistant cells appeared at a frequency of 0.04%. When one of three tumor promoters, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA), aplysiatoxin and dihydroteleocidin B, was added during selection with cadmium chloride, the frequency of appearance of resistant cells increased more than 50-fold. Two of the resistant clones obtained were characterized. Both clones produced much higher levels of metallothionein I mRNA than the parental CHL cells. Southern blot analysis showed that in these resistant cells, metallothionein I genes were amplified approximately 5-fold. Therefore, it seems that tumor promoters can enhance the frequency of gene amplification. One possible mechanism of the action of tumor promoters in oncogenesis is amplification of activated c-onc genes. Consistent with this idea, it has been reported that c-onc genes are amplified in various cancer cells. We also found that the c-Ha-ras and c-myc genes were amplified in a bladder cancer removed surgically and in a transplanted rat hepatocellular carcinoma, Morris hepatoma 7794A, respectively.