NUCLEAR HISTONE ACETYLASES AND DEACETYLASES AND TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATION - HATS OFF TO HDACS

Reversible acetylation of lysines on the amino-terminal tails of nucle osomal histones is correlated with changes in chromatin structure and transcription. The recent characterization of enzymes directly respons ible for regulating histone acetylation and deacetylation and the clon ing of their encoding cDNAs have provided insights into the possible f unctional and regulatory mechanisms of these classes of molecules, Nuc lear histone acetylases have been shown to be transcriptional coactiva tors and coactivator-associated proteins, while histone deacetylases h ave been identified as components of nuclear co-repressor complexes. T hese findings confirm previous studies linking histone acetylation and transcriptional regulation.