This gene encodes a protein that contains multiple simple repeats. The encoded protein binds RNA and promotes pre-mRNA splicing, particularly of transcripts with poor splice sites. The protein also recognizes a specific DNA sequence found in the human hepatitis B virus (HBV) and represses HBV core promoter activity. There is a pseudogene for this gene on chromosome 1. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2013].