This gene encodes an aminotransferase that transaminates kynurenine to form kynurenic acid. Kynurenic acid is a metabolite of tryptophan. Multiple alternatively spliced transcript variants that encode different proteins have been described for this gene. This gene shares 5' exon structure with the RNA binding motif protein, X-linked-like 1 locus on chromosome 1, but the coding sequences are non-overlapping. [provided by RefSeq, Jun 2009].
Marques, Dupanloup, Vinckenbosch, Reymond, Kaessmann: "Emergence of young human genes after a burst of retroposition in primates." in: PLoS biology, Vol. 3, Issue 11, pp. e357, (2005) (PubMed).