Figure 6.

Model explaining heterogeneity of polyclonal knockout cell lines. (A) Our data shows that mIMCD-3 cells are polyclonal in nature. Genome editing results in KO cells derived from a random WT cell. Subsequent experiments are conducted with a heterogenic WT control, therefore confounding the analysis of gene deletion effects. (B) Polyclonal mIMCD-3 cells represent the mean of a phenotypic spectrum. Our data shows that monoclonal WT cells are heterogeneous concerning distinct phenotypes. In experiments, KO cells derived from random WT cells are compared with polyclonal, heterogenic WT cells. This can lead to misinterpretation of findings, since the observed phenotype may result from heterogeneity of WT cells instead of gene deletion.