Cancer Genomes Sometimes Take the Longest Evolutionary Road.

Baker and colleagues developed a new algorithm called "Gain Route Identification and Timing In Cancer" (GRITIC) to uncover the path of chromosomal evolution in a tumor, particularly in the context of whole-genome duplication. Their approach found that tumors with genome doubling frequently take an indirect path from one copy number state to another. In addition, the timing of genome doubling within a tumor's evolution impacts its consequences on downstream chromosomal instability. See related article by Baker et al., p. 1810.