Pomc - pro-opiomelanocortin-alpha

This gene encodes a polypeptide hormone precursor that undergoes extensive, tissue-specific, post-translational processing. Processing yields several biologically active peptides, which are involved in diverse cellular functions, such as energy homeostasis, steroidogenesis, and increased melanin production in melanocytes. In mouse deficiency of this gene is associated with obesity, defects in adrenal development, and altered pigmentation. A pseudogene of this gene is located on chromosome 19. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants. [provided by RefSeq, Jun 2013]