This gene is located within the Prader-Willi critical region and produces a long, spliced paternally-imprinted RNA that initiates within a common upstream promoter region shared by the SNRPN (small nuclear ribonucleoprotein polypeptide N) and SNURF genes. This transcript serves as a host RNA for the small nucleolar RNA, C/D box 115 and 116 clusters. This RNA extends in antisense into the region of the ubiquitin protein ligase E3A gene (UBE3A), and is thought to regulate imprinted expression of UBE3A in the brain. This transcript undergoes extensive alternative splicing, and may initiate and terminate at multiple locations within this genomic region. The full-length structure of all splice forms is not determined. [provided by RefSeq, Mar 2017]
