U2AF35 belongs to the splicing factor SR family of genes. U2 auxiliary factor, comprising a large and a small subunit, is a non-snRNP protein required for the binding of U2 snRNP to the pre-mRNA branch site. This gene encodes the small subunit which plays a critical role in both constitutive and enhancer-dependent RNA splicing by directly mediating interactions between the large subunit and proteins bound to the enhancers. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been identified. [provided by RefSeq]