Cells (Chinese hamster ovary) in G1 phase were fused with cells in late S phase to determine if a cell in late S phase can induce DNA synthesis in the nucleus of a G1 cell and, if so, to determine if the DNA synthesis so induced in a G1 phase nucleus has an autoradiographic pattern characteristic of early or of late S phase synthesis. The results indicate (i) that 89% of the G1 nuclei in late-S/G1 binucleates synthesized DNA, while only 2% of the control unfused G1 cells synthesized DNA, and (ii) that in all late-S/G1 binucleates the G1 nucleus was induced to synthesize early S phase DNA. These results are compatible with the idea that a cytoplasmically transmissible factor initiates DNA synthesis but that an intranuclear mechanism defines the temporal order of replication.