Protein kinase CK2 regulates the dimerization of histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) and HDAC2 during mitosis.

Histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) and HDAC2 are components of corepressor complexes that are involved in chromatin remodeling and regulation of gene expression by regulating dynamic protein acetylation. HDAC1 and -2 form homo- and heterodimers, and their activity is dependent upon dimer formation. Phosphorylation of HDAC1 and/or HDAC2 in interphase cells is required for the formation of HDAC corepressor complexes. In this study, we show that during mitosis, HDAC2 and, to a lesser extent, HDAC1 phosphorylation levels dramatically increase. When HDAC1 and -2 are displaced from the chromosome during metaphase, they dissociate from each other, but each enzyme remains in association with components of the HDAC corepressor complexes Sin3, NuRD, and CoREST as homodimers. Enzyme inhibition studies and mutational analyses demonstrated that protein kinase CK2-catalyzed phosphorylation of HDAC1 and -2 is crucial for the dissociation of these two enzymes. These results suggest that corepressor complexes, including HDAC1 or HDAC2 homodimers, might target different cellular proteins during mitosis.