CpG methylation is an epigenetic modification that is important for embryonic development, imprinting, and X-chromosome inactivation. Studies in mice have demonstrated that DNA methylation is required for mammalian development. This gene encodes a protein with similarity to DNA methyltransferases, but this protein does not display methyltransferase activity. The protein strongly binds DNA, suggesting that it may mark specific sequences in the genome. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms.