PHD finger found in PHD finger protein 21A (PHF21A)
PHF21A (also termed BHC80a or BRAF35-HDAC complex protein BHC80) along with HDAC1/2, CtBP1, CoREST, and BRAF35, is associated with LSD1, a lysine (K)-specific histone demethylase. It inhibits LSD1-mediated histone demethylation in vitro. PHF21A is predominantly present in the central nervous system and spermatogenic cells and is one of the six components of BRAF-HDAC complex (BHC) involved in REST-dependent transcriptional repression of neuron-specific genes in non-neuronal cells. It acts as a scaffold protein in BHC in neuronal as well as non-neuronal cells and also plays a role in spermatogenesis. PHF21A contains a C-terminal plant homeodomain (PHD) finger that is responsible for the binding directly to each of five other components of BHC, and of organizing BHC mediating transcriptional repression.