Probably not a functional protein. Cells lacking A2 show no obvious alterations in mating, sporulation and cell growth. S.cerevisiae mating-type protein A2 is identical to residues 92-210 of ALPHA2 and should not be confused with the mating-type protein A2 of other yeast species. There are three genetic loci for mating type genes in S.cerevisiae. MAT is the expression locus that determines the mating type of the cell, whereas HML (containing HMLALPHA1 and HMLALPHA2) and HMR (containing HMRA1 and HMRA2) represent silenced repositories of mating type information. The mating type is determined by the MAT locus, which contains either a copy of HML or of HMR. Diploid cells are usually heterozygous for the MAT locus. Belongs to the TALE/M-ATYP homeobox family.