This gene encodes a member of the small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO) family of eukaryotic proteins. The encoded protein is covalently conjugated to other proteins via a post-translation modification known as sumoylation. Sumoylation may play a role in a wide variety of cellular processes, including nuclear transport, DNA replication and repair, mitosis, transcriptional regulation, and signal transduction. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding distinct proteins have been described.