Credit: Yi-Hong Zhou/University of California-Irvine
In this image of mouse brain tissue containing human brain tumor cells, red dye shows invasive, stem-like cells that carry two copies of chromosome 7, while green dye depicts non-stem-like cells that carry three copies of the problematic chromosome. The cells can change into one another by adding or deleting copies of of chromosome 7. Mathematical modeling suggested the involvement of chromosome instability helps tumor cells fend off treatment.