Ribosomes, the organelles that catalyze protein synthesis, consist of a small 40S subunit and a large 60S subunit. Together these subunits are composed of 4 RNA species and approximately 80 structurally distinct proteins. This gene encodes a ribosomal protein that is a component of the 60S subunit. The protein belongs to the L34E family of ribosomal proteins. It is located in the cytoplasm. This gene originally was thought to be located at 17q21, but it has been mapped to 4q. Overexpression of this gene has been observed in some cancer cells. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants, all encoding the same isoform. As is typical for genes encoding ribosomal proteins, there are multiple processed pseudogenes of this gene dispersed through the genome.