Punctuated Cancer Evolution? Periodic Bursts Of Genetic Mutations Implicated
Thursday, April 25, 2013 - 13:10
in Biology & Nature
The common perception is that cancer develops because of gradual mutations over time, finally overwhelming the ability of a cell to control growth. A look at genomes in prostate cancer found instead that genetic mutations occur in abrupt, periodic bursts, causing complex, large scale reshuffling of DNA driving the development of prostate cancer. The researchers dub this process "punctuated cancer evolution," akin to the theory of human evolution that states changes in a species occur in abrupt intervals. After discovering how DNA abnormalities arise in a highly interdependent manner, the researchers named these periodic disruptions in cancer cells that lead to complex genome restructuring "chromoplexy." read more