Figure 5
Clonal mt-mutation expansion of NSCLC tumour development. A stochastic mt-mutation (open arrows) arises at the germline or somatic level (A) and confers a cellular growth advantage likely to become dominant, leading to clonal patch formation (dashed boundaries) (B). Monoclonal tumour nodules, arising from a single patch, carry an identical mt-mutation pattern of homoplasmic and heteroplasmic mutations (indicated by the red mitochondria) (C). Tumour nodules, which arise from different clonal patches, contain distinct patterns of homoplasmic and heteroplasmic mt-mutations (D).
