The encoded protein is an Fe(II)-containing nuclear protein expressed in all tissues of the body and concentrated within dot-like subnuclear structures.

In Pseudomonas stutzeri this protein exhibited quercetinase activity.

[8] In Streptomyces ambofaciens, a strain known to produce the antibiotic spiramycin, the pirA gene regulates the AcdB enzyme that catalyzes one of the first steps of beta-oxidation.

[9] Loss of the pirA gene causes a metabolic imbalance that reduces the amount of antibiotic produced.

This article on a gene on the human X chromosome and/or its associated protein is a stub.