The PHF21A gene encodes BHC80, a component of a BRAF35 (MIM 605535)/histone deacetylase (HDAC; see MIM 601241) complex (BHC) that mediates repression of neuron-specific genes through the cis-regulatory element known as repressor element-1 (RE1) or neural restrictive silencer (NRS) (Hakimi et al., 2002 [PubMed 12032298]).[supplied by OMIM, Nov 2010].