Friend virus transformed mouse erythroleukemia cells express the program of erythropoietic differentiation under the influence of the previously described, potent inducing agent, hexamethylene bisacetamide. Commitment to differentiation, defined as the ability to continue the processes of differentiation in the absence of inducer, was examined at the single cell level, with a combination of suspension and cell cloning techniques. Recruitment of committed cells occurs prior to the detectable accumulation of Hb or the appearance of morphological changes characteristic of erythroid maturation. The stability of the commitment of murine erythroleukemia cells to differentiate is dependent on the concentration of hexamethylene bisacetamide and the duration of exposure to the inducing agent. Under conditions less than optimal for induction, a single cell can give rise to a colony containing differentiated and undifferentiated cells. On the basis of these findings, fully stabilized differentiation, in addition to the previously demonstrated requirement for the inducing agent to be present during a cell cycle S phase, involves subsequent stabilizing event(s) caused by a direct or indirect action of the inducing agent.