Histone deacetylases: salesmen and customers in the post‐translational modification market

HDACs (histone deacetylases) are enzymes that remove the acetyl moiety from N‐?‐acetylated lysine residues in histones and non‐histone proteins. In recent years, it has turned out that HDACs themselves are also subject to post‐translational modification. Such structural alterations can determine the stability, localization, activity and protein—protein interactions of HDACs. This subsequently affects the modification of their substrates and the co‐ordination of cellular signalling networks. Intriguingly, physiologically relevant non‐histone proteins are increasingly found to be deacetylated by HDACs, and aberrant deacetylase activity contributes to several severe human diseases. Targeting the catalytic activity of these enzymes and their post‐translational modifications are therefore attractive targets for therapeutical intervention strategies. To achieve this ambitious goal, details on the molecular mechanisms regulating post‐translational modifications of HDACs are required. This review summarizes aspects of the current knowledge on the biological role and enzymology of the phosphorylation, acetylation, ubiquitylation and sumoylation of HDACs.     

Recent advances in class IIa histone deacetylases research

Epigenetic control plays an important role in gene regulation through chemical modifications of DNA and post-translational modifications of histones. An essential post-translational modification is the histone acetylation/deacetylation-process which is regulated by histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs). The mammalian zinc dependent HDAC family is subdivided into three classes: class I (HDACs 1-3, 8), class II (IIa: HDACs 4, 5, 7, 9; IIb: HDACs 6, 10) and class IV (HDAC 11). In this review, recent studies on the biological role and regulation of class IIa HDACs as well as their contribution in neurodegenerative diseases, immune disorders and cancer will be presented. Furthermore, the development, synthesis, and future perspectives of selective class IIa inhibitors will be highlighted.     

昆虫组蛋白去乙酰化酶HDACs的研究进展

组蛋白乙酰化修饰是一种重要的蛋白质翻译后修饰方式,由组蛋白乙酰基转移酶HATs和组蛋白去乙酰化酶HDACs共同调节。昆虫HDACs蛋白家族根据其同源性和结构的不同共分为4类,各昆虫物种之间既具有较高的保守同源性,同时也表现出一定的物种特异性。HDACs主要参与昆虫的胚胎发育、体节形成、寿命和神经行为等方面的调节。本文从HDACs蛋白的种类、系统发育、生理功能等方面展开,介绍了近年来国内外昆虫HDACs领域的最新研究进展,以期对研究昆虫表型可塑性调节机制以及探索新的害虫防治方法提供借鉴。     

Structure, mechanism, and inhibition of histone deacetylases and related metalloenzymes

Metal-dependent histone deacetylases (HDACs) catalyze the hydrolysis of acetyl-L-lysine side chains in histone and nonhistone proteins to yield l-lysine and acetate. This chemistry plays a critical role in the regulation of numerous biological processes. Aberrant HDAC activity is implicated in various diseases, and HDACs are validated targets for drug design. Two HDAC inhibitors are currently approved for cancer chemotherapy, and other inhibitors are in clinical trials. To date, X-ray crystal structures are available for four human HDACs (2, 4, 7, and 8) and three HDAC-related deacetylases from bacteria (histone deacetylase-like protein (HDLP); histone deacetylase-like amidohydrolase (HDAH); acetylpolyamine amidohydrolase (APAH)). Structural comparisons among these enzymes reveal a conserved constellation of active site residues, suggesting a common mechanism for the metal-dependent hydrolysis of acetylated substrates. Structural analyses of HDACs and HDAC-related deacetylases guide the design of tight-binding inhibitors, and future prospects for developing isozyme-specific inhibitors are quite promising.     

Nuclear histone deacetylases are not required for global histone deacetylation during meiotic maturation in porcine oocytes

Histone acetylation plays an important role in the regulation of chromatin structure and gene function. In mammalian oocytes, histones H3 and H4 are highly acetylated during the germinal vesicle (GV) stage, and global histone deacetylation takes place via a histone deacetylase (HDAC)-dependent mechanism after GV breakdown (GVBD). The presence of HDACs in the GVs of mammalian oocytes in spite of the high acetylation states of nuclear histones indicates that the HDACs in the nucleus are inactive but become activated after GVBD. However, the fluctuation pattern, the localization of HDAC activity during meiotic maturation and, moreover, the responsibility of nuclear HDACs for global histone deacetylation are still unknown. Here, we demonstrated using porcine oocytes that total HDAC activity was maintained throughout meiotic maturation, and high HDAC activity was observed in both the nucleus and the cytoplasm at the GV stage. The experiments with valproic acid (VPA), a specific class I HDAC inhibitor, revealed that the HDACs in GVs were class I, and those in the cytoplasm were other than class I. Interestingly, VPA had no effect on global histone deacetylation after GVBD, indicating that nuclear HDACs were not required for global histone deacetylation. To confirm this possibility, we removed the nuclei from immature oocytes, injected somatic cell nuclei into the enucleated oocytes, and showed that injected somatic cell nuclei were dramatically deacetylated after nuclear envelope breakdown. These results revealed that nuclear contents, including class I HDACs, are not required for the global histone deacetylation during meiosis, and that cytoplasmic HDACs other than class I are responsible for this process.     

Valproate Improves Memory Deficits in an Alzheimer’s disease Mouse Model: Investigation of Possible Mechanisms of Action

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a very common progressive neurodegenerative disorder affecting the learning and memory abilities in the brain. Key findings from recent studies of epigenetic mechanisms of memory suggest chromatin remodeling disorders via histone hypoacetylation of the lysine residue contribute to the cognitive impairment in AD. Therefore, the deinhibition of histone acetylation induced by histone deacetylases (HDACs) inhibitors contributes to recovery of learning and memory. We show here that the antiepileptic drug sodium valproate (VPA) potently enhanced long-term recognition memory and spatial learning and memory in AD transgenic mice. Possible mechanisms showed VPA could significantly elevate histone acetylation through HDACs activity inhibition and increase plasticity-associated gene expression within the hippocampi of mice. Our study suggests that VPA, serving as a HDACs inhibitor, can be considered as a potential pharmaceutical agent for the improvement of cognitive function in AD.     

组蛋白乙酰化与癌症

由于组蛋白被修饰所引起的染色质结构的改变,在真核生物基因表达调控中发挥着重要的作用,这些修饰主要包括甲基化、乙酰化、磷酸化和泛素化等,其中组蛋白乙酰化尤为重要.组蛋白乙酰转移酶（HAT）和组蛋白去乙酰化酶（HDAC）参与决定组蛋白乙酰化状态.HAT通常作为多亚基辅激活物复合体的一部分,催化组蛋白乙酰化,导致染色质结构的松散、激活转录;而HDAC是多亚基辅抑制物复合体的一部分,使组蛋白去乙酰化,导致染色质集缩,并抑制基因的转录. 编码这些酶的基因染色体易位易于导致急性白血病的发生.另一方面,已经确定了一些乙酰化修饰酶的基因在染色体上的位置,它们尤其倾向定位于染色体的断裂处.综述了HAT和HDAC参与的组蛋白乙酰化与癌症发生之间关系的最新进展,以期进一步阐明组蛋白乙酰化修饰酶的生物学功能以及它们在癌症发生过程中的作用.     

Regulation of global acetylation in mitosis through loss of histone acetyltransferases and deacetylases from chromatin

Histone acetylation, a reversible modification of the core histones, is widely accepted to be involved in remodeling chromatin organization for genetic reprogramming. Histone acetylation is a dynamic process that is regulated by two classes of enzymes, the histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs). Although promoter-specific acetylation and deacetylation has received most of the recent attention, it is superimposed upon a broader acting and dynamic acetylation that profoundly affects many nuclear processes. In this study, we monitored this broader histone acetylation as cells enter and exit mitosis. In contrast to the hypothesis that HATs and HDACs remain bound to mitotic chromosomes to provide an epigenetic imprint for postmitotic reactivation of the genome, we observed that HATs and HDACs are spatially reorganized and displaced from condensing chromosomes as cells progress through mitosis. During mitosis, HATs and HDACs are unable to acetylate or deacetylate chromatin in situ despite remaining fully catalytically active when isolated from mitotic cells and assayed in vitro. Our results demonstrate that HATs and HDACs do not stably bind to the genome to function as an epigenetic mechanism of selective postmitotic gene activation. Our results, however, do support a role for spatial organization of these enzymes within the cell nucleus and their relationship to euchromatin and heterochromatin postmitotically in the reactivation of the genome.