p73, a member of the p53 family, expresses two classes of proteins: the full-length TAp73 and the Nterminally truncated ⌬Np73. While TAp73 possesses many p53-like features, ⌬Np73 is dominant negative towards TAp73 and p53 and appears to have distinct functions in tumorigenesis and neuronal development. Given its biological importance, we investigated the role of ⌬Np73 in nerve growth factor (NGF)-mediated neuronal differentiation in PC12 cells. We show that overexpression of ⌬Np73␣ or ⌬Np73 inhibits NGFmediated neuronal differentiation in both p53-dependent and -independent manners. In line with this, we showed that the level of endogenous ⌬Np73 is progressively diminished in differentiating PC12 cells upon NGF treatment and knockdown of ⌬Np73 promotes NGF-mediated neuronal differentiation. Interestingly, we found that the ability of ⌬Np73 to suppress NGF-mediated neuronal differentiation is correlated with its ability to regulate the expression of TrkA, the high-affinity NGF receptor. Specifically, we found that ⌬Np73 directly binds to the TrkA promoter and transcriptionally represses TrkA expression, which in turn attenuates the NGF-mediated mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway. Conversely, the steady-state level of TrkA is increased upon knockdown of ⌬Np73. Furthermore, we found that histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) and HDAC2 are recruited by ⌬Np73 to the TrkA promoter and act as corepressors to suppress TrkA expression, which can be relieved by trichostatin A, an HDAC inhibitor. Taken together, we conclude that ⌬Np73 negatively regulates NGF-mediated neuronal differentiation by transrepressing TrkA.