MAIT (mucosal-associated invariant T-cells) lymphocytes represent a small population of T-cells primarily found in the gut. The protein encoded by this gene is an antigen-presenting molecule that presents metabolites of microbial vitamin B to MAITs. This presentation may activate the MAITs to regulate the amounts of specific types of bacteria in the gut. Several transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene, and a pseudogene of it has been detected about 36 kbp upstream on the same chromosome.
