Essential component of the BHC complex, a corepressor complex that represses transcription of neuron-specific genes in non-neuronal cells. The BHC complex is recruited at RE1/NRSE sites by REST and acts by deacetylating and demethylating specific sites on histones, thereby acting as a chromatin modifier. In the BHC complex, it serves as a molecular beacon for the recruitment of molecular machinery that imposes silencing across a chromosomal interval. Plays a central role in demethylation of Lys-4 of histone H3 by promoting demethylase activity of KDM1A on core histones and nucleosomal substrates (By similarity). Component of a BHC histone deacetylase complex that contains KDM1A. Expressed in territories in which neurogenesis takes place. Belongs to the CoREST family.