Probably responsible for the deacetylation of lysine residues on the N-terminal part of the core histones (H2A, H2B, H3 and H4) (By similarity). Histone deacetylation gives a tag for epigenetic repression and plays an important role in transcriptional regulation, cell cycle progression and developmental events (By similarity). Histone deacetylases act via the formation of large multiprotein complexes (By similarity). As a likely component of a histone deacetylase complex, together with saeg-1 and hda-2, functions downstream of the cAMP-dependent kinase egl-4 to regulate the expression of genes required for egg-laying and forgaging (PubMed:21573134). H2O + N(6)-acetyl-L-lysyl-[histone] = acetate + L-lysyl-[histone] May be a component of a histone deacetylase complex containing saeg-2, saeg-1 and hda-2. Belongs to the histone deacetylase family. HD type 1 subfamily.