p97 or VCP (valosin-containing protein) is a versatile ATPase complex, and many cofactors are required for the p97 functional diversity. This gene encodes one of the p97 cofactors. This cofactor is a transmembrane protein and localized in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane. It tethers p97 to the ER membrane via its UBX domain. The association of this cofactor with p97 facilitates efficient ER-associated degradation of misfolded proteins. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene.[provided by RefSeq, Aug 2013].