Description
This gene encodes a member of the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase protein family. The encoded protein has been identified as a moonlighting protein based on its ability to perform mechanistically distinct functions. This gene catalyzes an important energy-yielding step in carbohydrate metabolism, the reversible oxidative phosphorylation of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate in the presence of inorganic phosphate and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD). The encoded protein has additionally been identified to have uracil DNA glycosylase activity in the nucleus. Studies of a similar protein in mouse have assigned a variety of additional functions including nitrosylation of nuclear proteins, the regulation of mRNA stability, and acting as a transferrin receptor on the cell surface of macrophage. Many pseudogenes similar to this locus are present in the human genome. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants