This group represents eukaryotic type class II histone deacetylases (), such as HDAC4, HDAC5, HDAC7 and HDAC9 [, , ]. These enzymes are responsible for the deacetylation of lysine residues on the N-terminal part of the core histones (H2A, H2B, H3 and H4). Histone deacetylation gives a tag for epigenetic repression and plays an important role in transcriptional regulation, cell cycle progression and developmental events. Histone deacetylases act via the formation of large multiprotein complexes. Histone acetyltransferases (HATs) cooperate with histone deacetylases to establish and maintain specific patterns of histone acetylation.
