Rates of semiconservative DNA synthesis have been investigated in asynchronous xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), XP variant, and normal human skin fibroblasts using the technique of cellular autoradiography. In unirradiated cells, no differences in DNA synthesis rates were detected among the three cell strains. Exposure to UV radiation caused the rate of DNA synthesis to decrease for at least three hours in all three cell strains. In the normal cell strain, recovery of the DNA synthetic rate occurred at later times following a UV fluence of 5 J/m2. At this same UV fluence, recovery was absent in classical XP cells during a 24 h post-irradiation period while it was slower than normal in XP variant cells. When the UV fluence to classical XP and XP variant cells was reduced so that survival in all three cell strains was approximately the same (25%), recovery of the DNA synthetic rate was similar in all three cell strains. These results are discussed in terms of current models of DNA replication in UV-irradiated cells and indicate: (1) that pyrimidine dimers are very effective blocks to DNA synthesis and (2) that there is no inherent defect in semi-conservative DNA synthesis in either classical XP or XP variant cells which is independent of a defect in DNA repair capacity.