This gene product mediates the attachment of erythroblasts
to macrophages. This attachment promotes terminal maturation and
enucleation of erythroblasts, presumably by suppressing apoptosis.
This protein is an integral membrane protein with the N-terminus on
the extracellular side and the C-terminus on the cytoplasmic side
of the cell. Two immunologically related isoforms of erythroblast
macrophage protein with apparent molecular weights of 33 kD and 36
kD were detected in macrophage membranes; this gene encodes the
larger isoform. Multiple alternatively spliced transcript variants
encoding distinct isoforms have been found for this gene, but the
biological validity of some variants has not been determined.
