Chromosomal instable T-ALLs induced by truncation of the SAC kinase Mps1 in combination with p53 loss display recurrent and clonal gains of specific chromosomes (chromosomes 4, 9, 14, and 15) detectable at the bulk level, indicating that ongoing chromosome instability is counteracted by selection that drives lymphoma cells toward favorable chromosome-specific copy number states. The majority of T-ALL cells within individual lymphomas carry these aneuploidies despite the continued CIN phenotype. [@bakker_single-cell_2016]

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Studies of Mps1 truncation-induced chromosomal instability have established that ongoing chromosome missegregation in unstable cells does not produce random karyotypic outcomes but instead generates convergent recurrent chromosome gains, suggesting that selective pressures act on highly aneuploid populations to favor specific chromosome copy number configurations. The mechanism underlying this convergence likely involves the same fitness constraints that drive aneuploid tumors to evolve specific adaptations such as Stat1 inactivation combined with Myc activation to suppress immune infiltration, indicating that certain chromosome gains confer proliferative advantages that allow aneuploid cells to overcome the general fitness costs associated with chromosomal imbalance. However, what remains contested is whether these recurrent gains emerge primarily through clonal selection of rare advantageous karyotypes or through deterministic biases in which chromosomes are gained during ongoing chromosomal instability, and single-cell sequencing studies revealing substantial karyotype heterogeneity within clonal populations suggest that chromosomal instability continues to generate diversity even after recurrent clonal patterns become detectable by bulk measurements.

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