The genetic stability of normal and neoplastic lymphocytes was compared by using base-line mutation frequency and mutation rate/cell generation. Mutations at the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase locus were studied by enumerating thioguanine-resistant cells in a clonogenic assay. The base-line ("spontaneous") mutation frequency was 1.52 X 10(-6), 6.38 X 10(-6), and 1.06 X 10(-6) for normal cells from three individuals and was 1.16 X 10(-3), 6.08 X 10(-5), and 3.06 X 10(-5) for the three malignant cell lines, Jurkat (JM), HRIK, FMC-Hu1B, respectively. The mutation cell/generation rate was 24.6 X 10(-8), 15 X 10(-8), and 5.5 X 10(-8) for lymphocytes from the three normal individuals, and 666.4 X 10(-8), 52.8 X 10(-8), and 131 X 10(-8) for the three malignant cell lines. The results suggest that neoplastic lymphocytes are more genetically unstable than normal lymphocytes.