Figure 5.
The antagonistic actions of HATs and HDACs are required for regulating the acetylation of histone and non-histone proteins in many types of mammalian cells, including mouse and human PSCs. HATs transfer acetyl groups onto proteins and HDACs remove the acetyl groups. The acetylation state of histones affects chromatin structure and dictates the accessibility of promoter regions to the transcriptional machinery and the activation of gene expression. In the pluripotent state, cells appear to have higher levels of global histone acetylation and chromatin accessibility for transcriptional machinery. The acetylation state and functions of many non-histone proteins are also controlled by HATs and HDACs.