In the recent years, lysine acetylation in histones as well as nonhistone proteins has been much studied and it became clear that this protein modification plays major regulatory roles in eukaryotes. In histones, acetylation is usually associated with gene activity and deacetylation with reduced expression or formation of heterochromatin. Acetylation/deacetylation of nonhistone proteins can impact multiple aspects of protein function/activity, such as stability, cellular localization, or capacity to bind to DNA, to name only a few. Acetylation is catalyzed by (histone) acetyltransferases (HATs) and deacetylation is carried on by (histone) deacetylases (HDACs). Chemical inhibitors of HDACs have been identified early on and this has greatly helped to get insights into the roles of these enzymes. Importantly, HDAC inhibitors have been shown to be beneficial in very diverse pathological situations, ranging from cancer to neurodegeneration or autoimmunity, and two inhibitors have already been FDA approved for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell leukemia. In most cases however, the mechanisms and/or the enzymes involved have not been identified.

The main focus of this special issue will be to review the status of protein acetylation in relation to normal cellular or organismal physiology and pathologic situations, with an emphasis on HDACs. We will also address novel insights gained from global analysis of lysine acetylation.

The topics to be covered include, but are not limited to:

• HDAC, HATs, and Sirtuin families
• HDACs (and HATs) in chromatin and epigenetic regulation
• HDACs (and HATs) in nonhistone proteins regulation
• HDACs in cell cycle regulation
• Physiological role of HDACs based on knockout models
• HDACs in disease: cancer and other models
• Global analysis of acetylation

Before submission, authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jbb/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/ according to the following timetable: