The EHMT1 Knockout Huh-7 Polyclonal Cells are a CRISPR/Cas9-edited polyclonal knockout cell population for functional studies of EHMT1. Derived from the Huh-7 hepatocellular carcinoma line, these cells feature targeted disruption of the EHMT1 gene via CRISPR/Cas9, providing a heterogeneous loss-of-function model without single-cell cloning. This polyclonal product enables robust analysis of EHMT1-dependent epigenetic pathways in liver cancer.
Huh-7 is an epithelial cell line established from a liver tumor of a 57-year-old Japanese male in 1982. It serves as a widely used model for hepatocellular carcinoma and liver metabolism studies, retaining key hepatic features and tumorigenic properties ideal for gene-editing applications.
EHMT1 encodes a histone H3K9 methyltransferase that generates H3K9me1/me2 marks, leading to chromatin compaction and transcriptional repression. It functions as a heterodimer with EHMT2 and interacts with corepressor complexes containing CtBP, WIZ, and histone deacetylases, recruiting HP1 proteins to methylated nucleosomes. In HCC, EHMT1 is upregulated by ATF4 and MYC, causing silencing of tumor suppressors such as CDH1 (E-cadherin) and CDKN1A (p21). CRISPR-mediated knockout relieves this repression, potentially reactivating these genes and attenuating oncogenic phenotypes.
This polyclonal knockout model enables investigation of H3K9 methylation dynamics in HCC without clonal biases. By disrupting EHMT1-mediated silencing, researchers can examine the interplay between histone methylation and DNA methylation (via DNMT1) in maintaining a repressive chromatin state. The heterogeneous population reflects average gene-disruption effects, making it suitable for studying tumor-suppressor reactivation and pathway crosstalk in a liver cancer context.
Typical applications include RNA-seq for transcriptome profiling, ChIP-qPCR for H3K9me2 at target promoters (e.g., CDH1, CDKN1A), western blotting for EHMT1 protein verification, and functional assays for proliferation, apoptosis, and drug sensitivity. These cells are also useful for screening EHMT1 inhibitors and validating downstream effectors. For further details, contact Ascent Research.
