It is an upstream cell signaling protein common to multicellular eukaryotes.

They share a common and characteristic tertiary structure that consists of a beta barrel packed around an alpha helix in the central pore.

[6] They are associated with neuronal differentiation and development, and in mammals are implicated in three disease processes when mutated: obesity, retinal degeneration, and hearing loss.

[5] In mice, mutations in tubby proteins are known to affect life span and fat storage[7] as well as carbohydrate metabolism.

[8] Tubby domains associate with cytoplasmic side of cell membranes through binding of different phosphoinositides[9]