Description
HDAC8, Histone deacetylase 8, is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the HDAC8 gene, and is biologically involved in skull morphogenesis and metabolic control of the ERR-alpha/PGC1-alpha transcriptional complex. Sequence analysis predicted that the 377-amino acid HDAC8 protein contains the 9 conserved HDAC blocks that are presumably important for catalytic function. HDAC8 shares 54% sequence similarity with HDAC1 and HDAC2 and 39% similarity with HDAC3, making it a class I HDAC. Histones play a critical role in transcriptional regulation, cell cycle progression, and developmental events. Histone acetylation/deacetylation alters chromosome structure and affects transcription factor access to DNA. The protein encoded by this gene belongs to class I of the histone deacetylase/acuc/apha family. It has histone deacetylase activity and represses transcription when tethered to a promoter