This gene encodes an abundant nuclear protein that binds with high affinity to nascent poly(A) tails. The protein is required for progressive and efficient polymerization of poly(A) tails at the 3' ends of eukaryotic transcripts and controls the size of the poly(A) tail to about 250 nt. At steady-state, this protein is localized in the nucleus whereas a different poly(A) binding protein is localized in the cytoplasm.