HDAC3 and infection: Furthermore, the promoter of the IE1/2 transcript, the major immediate early promoter (MIEP) has been shown to be repressed by histone deacetylase 3 (HDAC3) and HP1 in peripheral blood monocytes (Murphy et al., 2002), where HCMV establishes latency; this suggests that sustained histone deacetylation may allow histone methyltransferases (HMTs) to lock MIEP chromatin in a repressive state characteristic of a latent state of infection.