Investigating the effect of co-repressor interaction on class IIa HDAC activity. To determine whether interaction with co-repressor affects the deacetylation potential of the class IIa HDACs, an assay was performed using 5 μm HDAC4 catalytic domain in the presence and absence of GSI peptide (20:1) and inhibitor (2:1) compared with 5 μg of HeLa nuclear extract. NE, nuclear extract; WT, wild type HDAC4; GSI, GSI motif peptide; TSA, HDAC inhibitor trichostatin A.