Figure 3. Transcriptional repression resulting from alteration of chromatin structure. Methylated DNA binds to a protein complex consisting of a methyl binding protein (MBP), which has a methyl-binding domain and a transcriptional repression domain, a corepressor molecule (CR), and a histone deacetylase (HDAC). After binding of this complex to the methylated DNA, the histones around which the DNA is wrapped become deacetylated, resulting in a compression and compaction of the chromatin structure. This makes the DNA inaccessible, and thus functional transcription is no longer possible.