Histone deacetylase 4 (HDAC4) binds and inhibits activation of the critical muscle transcription factor myocyte enhancer factor-2 (MEF2). However, the physiological significance of the HDAC4-MEF2 complex in skeletal muscle has not been established. Here we show that in skeletal muscle, HDAC4 is a critical modulator of MEF2-dependent structural and contractile gene expression in response to neur...

The myocyte enhancer factor 2 (MEF2) consists of a family of transcription factors that play important roles in a number of physiological processes from muscle cell differentiation to neuronal survival and T cell apoptosis. MEF2 has been reported to be associated with several distinct repressors including Cabin1(cain), MEF2-interacting transcriptional repressor (MITR), and HDAC4. It has been pr...

Fiber type-specific programs controlled by the transcription factor MEF2 dictate muscle functionality. Here, we show that HDAC4, a potent MEF2 inhibitor, is predominantly localized to the nuclei in fast/glycolytic fibers in contrast to the sarcoplasm in slow/oxidative fibers. The cytoplasmic localization is associated with HDAC4 hyper-phosphorylation in slow/oxidative-fibers. Genetic reprogramm...

Targeting of myocyte enhancer binding factor 2 (MEF2) proteins to the nucleus depends on a C-terminal bipartite nuclear localization signal (NLS). By expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP)/MEF2 fusion proteins in transfected myoblasts, we show that MEF2C contains an additional 13 amino acids domain, located immediately upstream of the NLS, which contributes to its nuclear retention. We a...

Histone deacetylase 4 (HDAC4) regulates numerous gene expression programs through its signal-dependent repression of myocyte enhancer factor 2 (MEF2) and serum response factor (SRF) transcription factors. In cardiomyocytes, calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) signaling promotes hypertrophy and pathological remodeling, at least in part by phosphorylating HDAC4, with consequen...

The class II histone deacetylases HDAC4 and HDAC5 interact specifically with the myogenic MEF2 transcription factor and repress its activity. Here we show that HDAC4 is cytoplasmic during myoblast differentiation, but relocates to the nucleus once fusion has occurred. Inappropriate nuclear entry of HDAC4 following overexpression suppresses the myogenic programme as well as MEF2-dependent transc...

A growing body of research indicates that pharmacological inhibition of histone deacetylases (HDACs) correlates with enhancement of long-term memory and current research is concentrated on determining the roles that individual HDACs play in cognitive function. Here, we investigate the role of HDAC4 in long-term memory formation in Drosophila. We show that overexpression of HDAC4 in the adult mu...

The maturation of immature chondrocytes to hypertrophic chondrocytes is regulated by parathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTHrP). We demonstrate that PTHrP or forskolin administration can block induction of collagen X-luciferase by exogenous Runx2, MEF2, and Smad1 in transfected chondrocytes. We have found that PTHrP/forskolin administration represses the transcriptional activity of MEF2 and th...

VSMCs (vascular smooth muscle cells) dedifferentiate from the contractile to the synthetic phenotype in response to acute vascular diseases such as restenosis and chronic vascular diseases such as atherosclerosis, and contribute to growth of the neointima. We demonstrated previously that balloon catheter injury of rat carotid arteries resulted in increased expression of CaMKII (Ca(2+)/calmoduli...