This gene is located within the Prader-Willi critical region and produces a long, spliced, paternally-imprinted RNA that is thought to share a promoter and exons with the Snrpn (small nuclear ribonucleoprotein polypeptide N) and Snurf genes. This transcript serves as a host RNA for two small nucleolar RNA clusters, and also extends in antisense into the region of the ubiquitin protein ligase E3A gene (Ube3a). It 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 a greater than 1 Mb genomic region. The full-length structure of all splice forms is not determined. [provided by RefSeq, Mar 2017]
