Efficient mammalian erythropoietin (EPO)-expression systems are required for therapeutic applications. The accumulation of ammonia is a major problem in the production of recombinant proteins in cultured animal cells. To counter this problem we introduced the first two genes of the urea cycle, carbamoyl phosphate synthetase (CPSI) and ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC), into IBE Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells by stable transfection. The resulting cell line, CO5, had a higher growth rate and accumulated less ammonia per cell than the parental cell line, IBE. In addition, it produced 2 times more EPO than the parent, and the purified EPO contained a higher proportion of acidic isoforms with approximately 15% more sialic acid.