Cloning and characterization of human histone deacetylase 8

To date, seven different human histone deacetylases (HDACs) have been ident ified, which fall into two distinct classes. We have isolated and character ized a cDNA encoding a novel human HDAC, which we name HDAC8, HDAC8 shows a high degree of sequence similarity to HDAC1 and HDAC2 and thus belongs to the class I of HDACs. HDAC8 is expressed in a variety of tissues. Human cel ls overexpressing HDAC8 localize the protein in sub-nuclear compartments wh ereas HDAC1 shows an even nuclear distribution. In addition, the HDAC8 gene is localized oil the X chromosome at position q13, which is close to the X IST gene and chromosomal breakpoints associated with preleukemia. (C) 2000 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.