This gene encodes a member of the SLC30A/ZnT family of zinc transporter proteins. ZnT proteins mediate both cellular zinc efflux and zinc sequestration into membrane-bound organelles. The encoded protein plays a role in the early secretory pathway as a heterodimer with zinc transporter 6, and may also regulate zinc sequestration into secretory granules of pancreatic beta cells. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding multiple isoforms have been observed for this gene, and a pseudogene of this gene is located on the long arm of chromosome 19. [provided by RefSeq, Oct 2011]