Histone acetylation plays a key role in the regulation of eukaryotic gene expression. Histone acetylation and deacetylation are catalyzed by multisubunit complexes. The protein encoded by this gene is a component of the histone deacetylase complex, which includes SIN3, SAP18, HDAC1, HDAC2, RbAp46, RbAp48, and other polypeptides. This complex is active in deacetylating core histone octamers, but inactive in deacetylating nucleosomal histones. A pseudogene of this gene is located on chromosome 3. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008].