Introduction

Histones

Histones are a family of basic, positively charged proteins that associate with DNA inside the nucleus to help condense the DNA into chromatin ^[1]. The nuclear DNA is wrapped around the histone in order to fit in the nucleus. Nucleosomes are chromatin beads made up of DNA wrapped around eight histone proteins, or a histone octamer ^[1]. Each histone octamer is made up of two copies of four different histone proteins, H2A, H2B, H3 and H4 ^[1].

There are four different examples of modifying histones including Histone acetylation, Histone deacetylation, Histone methylation and Histone demethylation ^[1].

HDAC8

Histone Deacetylase 8

Structure

General Structure Information

Inhibitor

Potassium Binding Site

Deacetylation

Zn²⁺ Metal Ion Mechanism

Figure 1. Mechanism of HDAC8

Active Site

Disease

HDACis