Background
This gene encodes a 5'-3' exonuclease that promotes transcription termination at cotranscriptional cleavage sites. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms. [provided by RefSeq, Dec 2015],
Function
catalytic activity:Exonucleolytic cleavage in the 5'- to 3'-direction to yield nucleoside 5'-phosphates.,function:Possesses 5'->3' exoribonuclease activity (By similarity). May promote the termination of transcription by RNA polymerase II. During transcription termination, cleavage at the polyadenylation site liberates a 5' fragment which is subsequently processed to form the mature mRNA and a 3' fragment which remains attached to the elongating polymerase. The processive degradation of this 3' fragment by this protein may promote termination of transcription.,similarity:Belongs to the 5'-3' exonuclease family. XRN2/RAT1 subfamily.,similarity:Contains 1 CCHC-type zinc finger.,tissue specificity:Expressed in the spleen, thymus, prostate, testis, ovary, small intestine, colon, peripheral blood leukocytes, heart, brain, placenta, lung, liver, skeletal muscle, kidney, and pancreas. Isoform 2
