Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41482535›Full record

ArticleNature genetics2026

A breakage-replication/fusion process explains complex rearrangements and segmental DNA amplification.

Cheng-Zhong Zhang, Carlos Mendez-Dorantes, Kathleen H Burns, David Pellman

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature genetics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Cheng-Zhong ZhangDepartment of Data Sciences, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA. cheng-zhong_zhang@dfci.harvard.edu.ORCID 0000-0001-8825-7158
Carlos Mendez-DorantesDepartment of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-8190-8568
Kathleen H BurnsDepartment of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-1620-3761
David PellmanCancer Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-5306-8031

Funding

Mechanisms Driving the Rapid Evolution of Cancer GenomesR35CA293978 · NCI · DANA-FARBER CANCER INST · PI DAVID S PELLMAN · 2024 to 2026
$3.1M
Consequences of retrotransposition on genome integrityR01CA276112 · NCI · DANA-FARBER CANCER INST · PI KATHLEEN H BURNS, Alice Eunjung Lee · 2023 to 2026
$2.9M
NCI NIH HHS R01 CA276112NCI NIH HHS R35 CA293978U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Cancer Institute (NCI) R35CA293978U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | NCI | Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute (National Cancer Institute Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics) R01CA276112
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Segmental copy-number gains are major contributors to human genetic variation and disease, but how these alterations arise remains incompletely understood. Here, based on the analyses of both experimental evolution and human disease genomes, we describe a general mechanism of segmental copy-number gain from a rearrangement process termed 'breakage-replication/fusion'. The hallmark genomic feature of breakage-replication/fusion is adjacent parallel breakpoints: two or more rearrangement breakpoints derived from replication of a single ancestral DNA end. We show that adjacent parallel breakpoints are a widespread feature of DNA duplications in human disease genomes and experimental models of chromothripsis. In addition to adjacent parallel breakpoints, breakage-replication/fusion also explains two other patterns of complex rearrangements with unclear provenance: chains of short (≤1 kb) insertions and high-level amplification consisting of inverted segments. Together, these findings revise the mechanistic model for chromothripsis and provide a new conceptual framework for understanding the origin of segmental DNA duplication during genome evolution.

Indexed as

DNA ReplicationGene AmplificationGene RearrangementSegmental Duplications, GenomicChromosome BreakpointsChromothripsisDNA Copy Number VariationsEvolution, MolecularGenome, HumanHumans

Identifiers

PMID41482535
PMCPMC12807874

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.