Histone deacetylase (HDAC) and histone acetyltransferase (HAT) are enzymes that regulate transcription by selectively deacetylating or acetylating the eta-amino groups of lysines located near the amino termini of core histone proteins. These HDAC family members are currently divided into two classes, I and II. Class I of the HDAC family comprises four members, HDAC-1, 2, 3, and 8, each of which contains a deacetylase domain exhibiting from 45 to 93% identity in amino acid sequence. Class II of the HDAC family comprises HDAC-4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11 the molecular weights of which are all about two-fold larger than those of the class I members, and the deacetylase domains are present within the C-terminal regions, except that HDAC-6 contains two copies of the domain, one within each of the N-terminal and C-terminal regions. Human HDAC-1, 2 and 3 were expressed in various tissues, but the others (HDAC-4, 5, 6, and 7) showed tissue-specific expression patterns. These results suggested that each member of the HDAC family exhibits a different, individual substrate specificity and function in vivo.