Leukemia L1210 cell lines, ED1 and ED2, were generated which were resistant to the cytotoxic effects of deoxyadenosine/erythro-9-(2-hydroxyl-3-nonyl)adenine and deoxyadenosine/erythro-9-(2-hydroxyl-3-nonyl)adenine plus 2,3-dihydro-1H-pyrazole[2,3a]imidazole/Desferal, respectively. The ED1 and ED2 were characterized to show that these cell lines had increased levels of ribonucleotide reductase as measured by CDP reduction. The reductase activity in crude cell-free extracts from the ED1 and ED2 cells was not inhibited by dATP. For CDP reductase, the activation by adenylylimido diphosphate and inhibition by dGTP and dTTP in these extracts from the ED1 and ED2 cells were the same as for the wild-type L1210 cells. The ED1 and ED2 cells were highly cross-resistant, as measured by growth inhibition, to deoxyguanosine/8-aminoguanosine, 2-fluorodeoxyadenosine, and 2-fluoroadenine arabinoside. While the ED2 cells showed resistance to 2,3-dihydro-1H-pyrazole-[2,3a]-imidazole/Desferal (6-fold), the ED1 and ED2 cell lines showed less resistance to hydroxyurea, 4-methyl-5-amino-1-formylisoquinoline thiosemicarbazone, and the dialdehyde of inosine. These data indicate that the mechanisms of resistance to the ribonucleotide reductase inhibitors are related to the increased level of ribonucleotide reductase activity and to the decreased sensitivity of the effector-binding subunit to dATP.