Figure 2: Clonal divergence is independent of clonal structure.
From: Classifying the evolutionary and ecological features of neoplasms
The cell lineages from two tumours may have the exact same clonal structure when they are sampled at the far right but have radically different degrees of genetic divergence. If one tumour (part a) has a higher mutation rate or has been accumulating genetic alterations for a longer period of time because those cells had a common ancestor, it will have a higher level of genetic divergence than another tumour (part b).
