[1][2][3] Chromoplexy causes genetic material from one or more chromosomes to become scrambled as multiple strands of DNA are broken and ligated to each other in a new configuration.
[citation needed] Chromplexy was originally inferred by statistically analyzing the location of DNA breaks across the genome.
[4] Along with chromothripsis, and break-fusion-bridge cycles, chromoplexy is an example of chromoanagenesis,[5] a catch-all term for events that generate complex structural chromosomal abnormalities.
Its merit is that it may account for the fact that chromoplexy appears to cause DNA breaks in regions of the nucleus that are actively transcribed and correspond to open chromatin.
[citation needed] Chromoplexy is similar to, but distinct from chromothripsis, a phenomenon whereby a single catastrophic event causes “shattering” of a chromosome.