This gene encodes a member of the vitamin B12-binding protein family. This family of proteins, alternatively referred to as R binders, is expressed in various tissues and secretions. This plasma protein binds cobalamin and mediates the transport of cobalamin into cells. This protein and other mammalian cobalamin-binding proteins, such as transcobalamin I and gastric intrisic factor, may have evolved by duplication of a common ancestral gene. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants.[provided by RefSeq, May 2010]