Glutathione is important for a variety of biological functions, including protection of cells from oxidative damage byfree radicals, detoxification of xenobiotics, and membrane transport. The protein encoded by this gene functions as ahomodimer to catalyze the second step of glutathione biosynthesis, which is the ATP-dependent conversion ofgamma-L-glutamyl-L-cysteine to glutathione. Defects in this gene are a cause of glutathione synthetase deficiency.(provided by RefSeq)
