This gene is a member of the intermediate filament family. Intermediate filaments are proteins which are primordial components of the cytoskeleton and nuclear envelope. The proteins encoded by the members of this gene family are evolutionarily and structurally related but have limited sequence homology, with the exception of the central rod domain. Multiple alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2010].