Histone deacetylase 6 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the HDAC6 gene.

Histones play a critical role in transcriptional regulation, cell cycle progression, and developmental events. Histone acetylation/deacetylation alters chromosome structure and affects transcription factor access to DNA. The protein encoded by this gene belongs to class II of the histone deacetylase/acuc/apha family. It contains an internal duplication of two catalytic domains which appear to function independently of each other. This protein possesses histone deacetylase activity and represses transcription. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]. Publication Note: This RefSeq record includes a subset of the publications that are available for this gene. Please see the Gene record to access additional publications.
Function: Responsible for the deacetylation of lysine residues on the N-terminal part of the core histones (H2A, H2B, H3 and H4). Histone deacetylation gives a tag for epigenetic repression and plays an important role in transcriptional regulation, cell cycle progression and developmental events. Histone deacetylases act via the formation of large multiprotein complexes (By similarity). Plays a central role in microtubule-dependent cell motility via deacetylation of tubulin.