該基因編碼的蛋白質是黏著素復合物的一個亞單位，在細胞分裂過程中調節姐妹染色單體的分離。該基因的靶向失活導致染色單體粘聚缺陷和非整倍體，這表明粘聚素的遺傳破壞是人類癌癥非整倍體的原因之一。另外，還發現了編碼不同亞型的剪接轉錄變體。
The protein encoded by this gene is a subunit of the cohesin complex, which regulates the separation of sister chromatids during cell division. Targeted inactivation of this gene results in chromatid cohesion defects and aneuploidy, suggesting that genetic disruption of cohesin is a cause of aneuploidy in human cancer. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene.