Probing the structure-activity relationship of endogenous histone deacetylase complexes with immobilized peptide-inhibitors.

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are key regulators of numerous cellular proteins by removing acetylation marks from modified lysine residues. Peptide-based HDAC probes containing α-aminosuberic acid ω-hydroxamate have been established as useful tools for investigating substrate selectivity and composition of endogenous HDAC complexes in cellular lysates. Here we report a structure-activity study of potential HDAC-probes containing derivatives of the hydroxamate moieties. While most of these probes did not recruit significant amounts of endogenous HDACs from cellular lysates, peptides containing Nε-acetyl-Nε-hydroxy-L-lysine served as HDAC probe. The recruitment efficiency varied between HDACs and was generally lower than that of α-aminosuberic acid ω-hydroxamate probes, but showed a similar global interaction profile. These findings indicate that Nε-acetyl-Nε-hydroxy-L-lysine might be a useful tool for investigations on HDAC complexes and the development of HDAC inhibitors.