This gene encodes a DNA topoisomerase, an enzyme that controls and alters the topologic states of DNA during transcription. This enzyme catalyzes the transient breaking and rejoining of a single strand of DNA which allows the strands to pass through one another, thus relaxing the supercoils and altering the topology of DNA. The enzyme interacts with DNA helicase SGS1 and plays a role in DNA recombination, cellular aging and maintenance of genome stability. Low expression of this gene may be related to higher survival rates in breast cancer patients. This gene has a pseudogene on chromosome 22. Alternate splicing results in multiple transcript variants. Additional alternatively spliced transcript variants of this gene have been described, but their full-length nature is not known. [provided by RefSeq, Aug 2013]