Entrez This gene functions in the regulation of autophagy, a lysosomal degradation pathway. This gene also functions as an antisense transcript in the posttranscriptional regulation of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase 3 gene, which has 3' overlap with this gene on the opposite strand. Mutations in this gene and disruption of the autophagy process have been associated with multiple cancers. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants. [provided by RefSeq, Sep 2012]
nextProt Phospholipid scramblase involved in autophagy by mediating autophagosomal membrane expansion. Cycles between the preautophagosomal structure/phagophore assembly site (PAS) and the cytoplasmic vesicle pool and supplies membrane for the growing autophagosome. Lipid scramblase activity plays a key role in preautophagosomal structure/phagophore assembly by distributing the phospholipids that arrive through ATG2 (ATG2A or ATG2B) from the cytoplasmic to the luminal leaflet of the bilayer, thereby driving autophagosomal membrane expansion (By similarity). In addition to autophagy, also plays a role in necrotic cell death (By similarity).