This gene encodes a member of the heterogeneous family of proline-rich salivary glycoproteins. The encoded preproprotein undergoes proteolytic processing to generate one or more mature isoforms before secretion from the parotid and submandibular/sublingual glands. Multiple distinct alleles of this locus including the parotid isoelectric-focusing variant slow (PIF-s), the parotid acidic protein (Pa), and the double band slow (Db-s) isoforms have been characterized. The reference genome encodes the Db-s allele. Certain alleles of this gene are associated with susceptibility to dental caries. This gene is located in a cluster of closely related salivary proline-rich proteins on chromosome 12. Co-transcription of this gene with adjacent genes has been observed. Alternate splicing of this gene results in multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms. [provided by RefSeq, Oct 2015].