Carbonic anhydrases are a large family of zincmetalloenzymes that catalyze the reversible hydration of carbondioxide. They participate in a variety of biological processes,including respiration, calcification, acid-base balance, boneresorption, and the formation of aqueous humor, cerebrospinalfluid, saliva, and gastric acid. They show extensive diversity intissue distribution and in their subcellular localization. Thecytosolic protein encoded by this gene is predominantly expressedin the salivary glands. Alternative splicing in the coding regionresults in multiple transcript variants encoding differentisoforms. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008].