Russian researchers from Skoltech, the Institute of Molecular Genetics of NRC Kurchatov Institute, Lomonosov Moscow State University, and elsewhere have clarified the mechanism behind the activation of genes in drosophila fly sex cells transitioning between two early stages in spermatozoid development. A similar mechanism makes the cells in our body—in the muscles, nerves, liver, etc.—different from each other and perhaps from sick cells, too. The team's findings were published in Nucleic Acids Research, about how the 3D structure assumed by DNA regulates which genes are active. These findings are a step toward elucidating the mechanisms of diseases and their causes with regard to DNA packaging.