Pulling the strings: How stem cells in the developing fruit fly brain organize their DNA from outside the nucleus

Cells are very particular about the proper locations of their contents. For example, DNA is packaged in the nucleus in a highly specific way, but researchers are still trying to understand how this happens. For stem cells in the brain of a larval fruit fly—a model organism used to study processes such as early development—the DNA is organized so that the center of each strand, called the…