text: Acetylation has the effect of changing the overall charge of the histone tail from positive to neutral. Nucleosome formation is dependent on the positive charges of the H4 histones and the negative charge on the surface of H2A histone fold domains. Acetylation of the histone tails disrupts this association, leading to weaker binding of the nucleosomal components. By doing this, the DNA is more accessible and leads to more transcription factors being able to reach the DNA. Thus, acetylation of histones is known to increase the expression of genes through transcription activation. Deacetylation performed by HDAC molecules has the opposite effect. By deacetylating the histone tails, the DNA becomes more tightly wrapped around the histone cores, making it harder for transcription factors to bind to the DNA. This leads to decreased levels of gene expression and is known as gene silencing.
  Acetylated histones, the octomeric protein cores of nucleosomes, represent a type of epigenetic marker within chromatin. Studies have shown that one modification has the tendency to influence whether another modification will take place. Modifications of histones can not only cause secondary structural changes at their specific points, but can cause many structural changes in distant locations which inevitably affects function. As the chromosome is replicated, the modifications that exist on the parental chromosomes are handed down to daughter chromosomes. The modifications, as part of their function, can recruit enzymes for their particular function and can contribute to the continuation of modifications and their effects after replication has taken place.  It has been shown that, even past one replication, expression of genes may still be affected many cell generations later. A study showed that, upon inhibition of HDAC enzymes by Trichostatin A, genes inserted next to centric heterochromatin showed increased expression. Many cell generations later, in the absence of the inhibitor, the increased gene expression was still  expressed, showing modifications can be carried through many replication processes such as mitosis and meiosis.
  Histone acetylation/deacetylation enzymes