might have been adapted for various non-essential functions other than mitosis. Although there is no apparent relationship between the occurrence of condensin II and the size of genomes, it seems that the functional contribution of condensin II becomes big as the genome size increases. A recent, comprehensive Hi-C study argues from an evolutionary point of view that condensin II acts as a determinant that converts post-mitotic Rabl configurations into interphase chromosome territories. The relative contribution of the two condensin complexes to mitotic chromosome architecture also change during development, making an impact on the morphology of mitotic chromosomes. Thus, the balancing act of condensins I and II is apparently fine-tuned in both evolution and development. Relatives Eukaryotic cells have two additional classes of SMC protein complexes. Cohesin contains SMC1 and SMC3 and is involved in sister chromatid cohesion. The SMC5/6 complex contains SMC5 and SMC6 and is implicated in recombinational repair. See also chromosome nucleoid mitosis meiosis cell cycle cohesin SMC protein ATPase HEAT repeat Topoisomerase II DNA supercoil References External links Cell cycle Mitosis Protein complexes