Catastrophic Endgames: Emerging Mechanisms of Telomere-Driven Genomic Instability

Short dysfunctional telomeres are subjected to fusion with loci across the genome and this leads to the formation of dicentric chromosomes. Breakage of dicentric chromosomes during cell division leads to simple large-scale deletions and insertions, but complex chromothriptic events can also arise. A single dysfunctional telomere can initiate a cascade of events that leads to chromothripsis. It appears that multiple mechanisms underpin...