This gene encodes a member of the NOD (nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain) family. This member is a cytosolic protein. It contains an N-terminal caspase recruitment domain (CARD), a centrally located nucleotide-binding domain (NBD), and 10 tandem leucine-rich repeats (LRRs) in its C terminus. The CARD is involved in apoptotic signaling, LRRs participate in protein-protein interactions, and mutations in the NBD may affect the process of oligomerization and subsequent function of the LRR domain. This protein is an intracellular pattern-recognition receptor (PRR) that initiates inflammation in response to a subset of bacteria through the detection of bacterial diaminopimelic acid. Multiple alternatively spliced transcript variants differring in the 5' UTR have been described, but the full-length nature of these variants has not been determined. [provided by RefSeq, Oct 2009].