The KIF5B Knockout HAP1 Polyclonal Cells are a CRISPR/Cas9-edited polyclonal knockout population designed for functional studies of the KIF5B gene. This product provides a heterogeneous pool of HAP1 cells harboring disruptive edits in KIF5B, enabling robust loss-of-function analysis without requiring single-cell cloning.
The HAP1 cell line is a near-haploid human cell line derived from KBM-7 chronic myeloid leukemia cells. Its haploid karyotype simplifies genetic manipulation and phenotypic screening, making it a preferred model for functional genomics, CRISPR-based screens, and intracellular trafficking studies.
KIF5B encodes the heavy chain of kinesin-1, a plus-end-directed microtubule motor essential for anterograde transport of diverse cargoes. It forms complexes with kinesin light chains (KLC1, KLC2) and adaptor proteins such as TRAK1, TRAK2, JIP1, and JIP3 to mediate mitochondrial motility, lysosome positioning, and axonal transport of synaptic components. The motor activity is regulated by kinases including protein kinase A (PKA) and glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3??), which modulate cargo binding and processivity. Disruption of KIF5B therefore impairs multiple intracellular transport pathways.
In the HAP1 context, KIF5B knockout disrupts organelle distribution and cell polarity, affecting processes such as cell migration. The near-haploid background eliminates confounding effects from second alleles, providing a clean system to attribute phenotypes directly to KIF5B loss. This model is particularly suited for investigating kinesin-1-dependent trafficking mechanisms and their roles in cancer cell biology and neurodegenerative disease.
Researchers can employ this polyclonal knockout population in a variety of assays including live-cell imaging of mitochondrial transport, immunofluorescence for organelle distribution, western blotting to verify target depletion, and cell migration assays. It is also compatible with pooled CRISPR screens and co-immunoprecipitation experiments to map protein interaction networks. Applications span functional genomics, drug discovery, and disease modeling for conditions such as hereditary spastic paraplegia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. For further information, please contact Ascent Research.
