Methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2) is the founding member of a family of methyl-CpG-binding domain (MBD) proteins that also includes MBD1, MBD2, MBD3, MBD4, MBD5 and MBD6. Each of these proteins, with the exception of MBD3, is capable of binding specifically to methylated DNA. MECP2, MBD1 and MBD2 can also repress transcription from methylated gene promoters. MeCP2 protein levels are high in neurons, where it plays a critical role in multiple synaptic processes. MeCP2 binds tightly to chromosomes in a methylation-dependent manner and associates with a corepressor complex containing the transcriptional repressor mSin3A and histone deacetylases.
