Initiation of transcription by RNA polymerase II requires the activities of more than 70 polypeptides. The protein that coordinates these activities is transcription factor IID (TFIID), which binds to the core promoter to position the polymerase properly, serves as the scaffold for assembly of the remainder of the transcription complex, and acts as a channel for regulatory signals. TFIID is composed of the TATA-binding protein (TBP) and a group of evolutionarily conserved proteins known as TBP-associated factors or TAFs. TAFs may participate in basal transcription, serve as coactivators, function in promoter recognition or modify general transcription factors (GTFs) to facilitate complex assembly and transcription initiation. This gene encodes a small subunit of TFIID that is present in all TFIID complexes and interacts with TBP. This subunit also interacts with another small subunit, TAF13, to form a heterodimer with a structure similar to the histone core structure. Two transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2012]