Figure 2.

Model demonstrating that food bioactives (phytochemicals) inhibit histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity as a cardio-protective mechanism. HDACs catalyze the removal of acetyl groups from lysine residues on histone tails. Deacetylation of histones leads to changes in electrostatic interactions between DNA and histone proteins that lead to chromatin condensation and gene repression. Conversely, histone acetyl transferases (HATs) add acetyl marks contributing to relaxed chromatin and gene expression. Increased HDAC activity is linked to cardiac dysfunction while inhibition of HDACs is cardio-protective. Thus, food bioactive HDAC inhibitors promote heart health via epigenetic regulation of gene expression.