The Meeting Report on the Fifth International Conference of the Chromosomal SMC Complexes

The fifth international meeting, entitled “SMC Complexes: Orchestrating Diverse Genome Functions”, took place in Numazu City, Shizuoka, Japan from October 15–18, 2024. With 159 attendees (115 of whom were from 18 countries and regions), the meeting aimed to further our understanding of large-scale chromosome organization and related chromosomal events, which are mediated by SMC complexes, one of the major architects of chromosomes. Discussion at the meeting was prompted by 49 talks and 82 poster presentations, which covered a variety of topics including the eukaryotic cohesin, condensin and SMC5/6 complexes, as well as bacterial and archaeal SMC complexes. Various cutting-edge approaches, ranging from molecular dynamics simulations to medical genetics, were developed and applied to reveal the functions of SMC complexes at mechanical and chromosomal levels. All attendees enjoyed the presentations of leading works and discussions with leading scientists in the field of chromosome biology.