The current invention reports a CHO-K1 cell, characterized in that said CHO-K 1 cell is derived from CHO-K1 cell deposited as ATCC CCL-61, grows in suspension, requires no glutamine, no insulin, and no growth factors in the cultivation medium for growth, whereby said CHO-K1 cell is not modified compared to the deposited CHO-K1 cell ATCC CCL-61 cell line by the introduction, deletion, or inactivation of a nucleic acid. Also reported are a method for obtaining said CHO-K1 cell and a method for the production of a heterologous polypeptide using such a CHO-K1 cell according to the invention.