FoSTeS is a replication-based genomic rearrangement mechanism that is induced by errors (single strand breaks) during DNA replication process (Lee et al., 2007). Hastings et al (2009a) proposed a further generalization of the FoSTeS mechanism, which is known as the MMBIR (microhomology mediated break induced replication) model (Hastings et al., 2009a) (Figure 2C). Genomic rearrangements generated by FoSTeS/MMBIR can vary greatly in size and complexity (Hastings et al., 2009b; Zhang et al., 2009c). In addition to microhomolgy mediated rearrangements (Lee et al., 2007; Liu et al., 2011a; Zhang et al., 2009c), FoSTeS mediated by large inverted repeats (>300 kb apart) and coupled with NHEJ is proposed as the predominant mechanism for complex rearrangements with duplication-triplication/inversion-duplication structures (Carvalho et al., 2011).
