該基因編碼的蛋白屬于bcl-2蛋白家族。bcl-2家族成員形成異二聚體或同二聚體，并作為抗或促凋亡調節因子參與多種細胞活動。由該基因編碼的蛋白質位于線粒體外膜，已被證明可以調節線粒體外膜通道（vdac）的開放。vdac調節線粒體膜電位，從而控制線粒體產生活性氧和釋放細胞色素c，兩者都是細胞凋亡的有效誘導因子。選擇性剪接導致編碼兩種不同亞型的多個轉錄變體。較長的亞型作為凋亡抑制因子，較短的亞型作為凋亡激活因子。[由RefSeq提供，2015年12月]
The protein encoded by this gene belongs to the BCL-2 protein family. BCL-2 family members form hetero- or homodimers and act as anti- or pro-apoptotic regulators that are involved in a wide variety of cellular activities. The proteins encoded by this gene are located at the outer mitochondrial membrane, and have been shown to regulate outer mitochondrial membrane channel (VDAC) opening. VDAC regulates mitochondrial membrane potential, and thus controls the production of reactive oxygen species and release of cytochrome C by mitochondria, both of which are the potent inducers of cell apoptosis. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants encoding two different isoforms. The longer isoform acts as an apoptotic inhibitor and the shorter isoform acts as an apoptotic activator. [provided by RefSeq, Dec 2015]