This cell surface receptor binds to galactose-terminated glycoproteins. It transports these glycoproteins via a series of membrane vesicles and tubules to an acidic-sorting organelle where the receptor and ligand dissociates. Then the receptor is recycled back to the cell surface. There are four alternatively spliced transcript variants of this gene. Transcript Variant: This variant (2) lacks 57 nt of exon 2 and 15 nt of exon 3 in the coding region, as compared to variant 1, but maintains the same reading frame. This variant encodes an isoform, b, which is 24 aa shorter than isoform a. Publication Note: This RefSeq record includes a subset of the publications that are available for this gene. Please see the Entrez Gene record to access additional publications.