MBP-1 physically associates with histone deacetylase for transcriptional repression

MBP-1, a c-myc promoter binding protein, is a mammalian transcription factor with intriguing properties including transcriptional repression of cellular genes. Recently, we have identified and characterized two different repressor domains of MBP-1. In this report, we have demonstrated that MBP-1 physically associates with histone deacetylase (HDAC), thus promoting formation of neucleosomes that inhibit transcription. Trichostatin A, an inhibitor of histone deacetylase, significantly reduces MBP-1-mediated transcriptional repression. However, MBP-1-mediated repression on c-myc promoter is resistant to histone deacetylase activity. Our results suggest that MBP-1 represses transcription by recruiting histone deacetylase as one of the mechanisms, whereas the other mechanism is resistant to HDAC activity and probably related to direct binding of promoter sequences or interaction through yet unidentified factor.