The N-CoR/SMRT complex deacetylates histone H3 upon targeting to a nucleosomal template. Nucleosomal templates reconstituted with recombinant Xenopus octamers were incubated with the S. cerevisiae SAGA complex (A and C) or NuA4 complex (B), washed, incubated with or without LexA-TR(DE) (A and B) or LexA-TR(DE) in the presence of 5 μM T3 (C), and subsequently incubated with the N-CoR/SMRT complex in the presence or absence of competitor oligonucleosomes, in the presence or absence of TSA. Ac, acetylation.