The protein encoded by this gene belongs to the class-II aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase family. Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases play critical roles in mRNA translation by charging tRNAs with their cognate amino acids. The encoded protein is a mitochondrial enzyme that specifically aminoacylates alanyl-tRNA. Mutations in this gene are a cause of combined oxidative phosphorylation deficiency 8. [provided by RefSeq, Dec 2011].
Bonnefond, Fender, Rudinger-Thirion, Giegé, Florentz, Sissler: "Toward the full set of human mitochondrial aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases: characterization of AspRS and TyrRS." in: Biochemistry, Vol. 44, Issue 12, pp. 4805-16, (2005) (PubMed).
Nakayama, Kikuno, Ohara: "Protein-protein interactions between large proteins: two-hybrid screening using a functionally classified library composed of long cDNAs." in: Genome research, Vol. 12, Issue 11, pp. 1773-84, (2002) (PubMed).