Hot debate in hot springs: Report on the second international meeting on SMC proteins

The second international meeting on "SMC proteins: Chromosomal Organizers from Bacteria to Human" (SMC2017) was held in Nanyo City, Yamagata, Japan, from 13 to 16 June 2017. The meeting was attended by 134 participants (among them, 76 from outside of Japan) who were interested in one of the highly conserved classes of chromosomal proteins regulating large-scale chromosome structure and function. A keynote lecture was followed by 41 oral presentations and 71 poster presentations in the four-day meeting. Diverse topics surrounding eukaryotic SMC protein complexes (cohesins, condensins and SMC5/6) and prokaryotic SMCs, and a wide range of cutting-edge approaches (from polymer physics through medical genetics) were presented. Dominant themes discussed in the meeting included mechanistically how the SMC protein complexes might form chromatin loops and domains. The participants enjoyed both exciting debate about chromosome organization and warm welcome offered by local people in a small city located in the northern part of Japan.