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Exploring the variation within

We usually think of an individual's cells as sharing the same genome. Challenging this notion, two new studies show that somatic mosaicism is common and can be an early herald of cancer.

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Figure 1: Populations of cells with normal karyotypes, constitutive chromosomal abnormalities or mosaic chromosomal anomalies.

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Macosko, E., McCarroll, S. Exploring the variation within. Nat Genet 44, 614–616 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.2311

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