Histone deacetylases (HDAC) are an important member of a group of enzymes that modify chromatin conformation. Homologues of the yeast gene SIR2 in mammalian cells code type III histone deacetylases (HDAC III, sirtuins), dependent on NAD(+) and inhibited by nicotinamide. In yeast cells, Sir2 participates in repression of transcriptional activity and in DNA double strand break repair. It is assum...

amino-group of lysines is an important switch in gene regulation and protein activity and has gained increasing interest in molecular biology and drug discovery in the last decade. One of the enzyme families that catalyze the cleavage of an acetyl group are the NAD+-dependent protein deacetylases, the sirtuins. The human sirtuins have seven members, Sirt1-7. Even though the biology of the sirtu...

Lysine acetylation has emerged as a global protein regulation system in all domains of life. Sirtuins, or Sir2-like enzymes, are a family of histone deacetylases characterized by their employing NAD+ as a co-substrate. Sirtuins can deacetylate several acetylated proteins, but a consensus substrate recognition sequence has not yet been established. Product inhibition of many eukaryotic sirtuins ...