The nucleosome remodeling and deacetylase (NuRD) complex is a key player in controlling both normal development and cancer progression. It is a conserved co-regulator complex with essential roles in gene regulation, but like other such complexes it is poorly defined at the protein level. It is our hypothesis that a structural analysis of the NuRD complex will provide a mechanistic understanding of its function and the likely causes underlying the association of NuRD with cancer biology.

CHD4 (chromodomain-helicase-DNA-binding protein 4) is one of the proteins that constitute the core of the NuRD complex and has been reported to regulate DNA-damage responses. We present here structural data on the N-terminal domain from this 218 kDa multidomain protein and a preliminary analysis of the CHD4-N1 structure.