The product of this gene catalyzes the last step of the catecholamine biosynthesis pathway, which methylates norepinephrine to form epinephrine (adrenaline). The enzyme also has beta-carboline 2N-methyltransferase activity. This gene is thought to play a key step in regulating epinephrine production. Alternatively spliced transcript variants have been found for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Nov 2012].
Kawahata, Yamakuni et al.: "Imidacloprid, a neonicotinoid insecticide, facilitates tyrosine hydroxylase transcription and phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase mRNA expression to enhance catecholamine synthesis and its ..." in: Toxicology, Vol. 394, pp. 84-92, (2018) (PubMed).