Acetylation is an important modification of proteins in cell biology. Acetylation occurs in thousands of proteins involved in control of cell cycle and metabolism, longevity, actin polymerization, and nuclear transport. In the nucleus, DNA is tightly packed into nucleosomes generating an environment which is highly repressive towards DNA processes such as transcription. The conserved amino-terminal domains of the four core histones (H2A, H2B, H3, and H4) contain lysines that are acetylated by histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and deacetylated by histone deacetylases (HDACs) (1). Signaling resulting in acetylation/deacetylation of histones, transcription factors, and other proteins affects a diverse array of cellular processes including chromatin structure and gene activity, cell growth, differentiation, and apoptosis.
