Histone deacetylases: transcriptional repression with SINers and NuRDs

Abstract

The DNA in eukaryotic cells is packaged into chromatin, which functions as a boundary to the transcriptional activation process. The nucleosome is the basic repeating unit of chromatin. The purification and characterization of several chromatin-remodelling complexes and the demonstration that histone acetyltransferases and histone deacetylases are regulatory components of coactivator and corepressor complexes, respectively, demonstrates that the nucleosome is not simply a static architectural feature of chromatin but, rather, plays a dynamic and integral role in the regulation of gene expression. This review focuses primarily on histone deacetylases and deacetylase-containing complexes and their role in mediating transcriptional repression.