Involved in Golgi-to-endoplasmic reticulum (ER) retrograde transport; the function is proposed to depend on its association in the NRZ complex which is believed to play a role in SNARE assembly at the ER (By similarity). Required for normal embryonic development (PubMed:21227923). May play a role in the nonsense-mediated decay pathway of mRNAs containing premature stop codons (PubMed:21227923). Expressed prior to gastrulation and following gastrulation cell movements at 10 hours post fertilization (PubMed:21227923). Expressed ubiquitously during early development (PubMed:21227923). Morpholino knockdown leads to both intermediate and severe phenotypes of abnormal embryonic development (PubMed:21227923). Intermediate phenotypes show areas of necrosis in the brain and neural structures with abnormal stacking of somites (PubMed:21227923). Severe phenotypes show a small body with few recognizable structures on top of the yolk sac with necrotic tissue present in the anterior and posterior regions (PubMed:21227923). Increase in premature stop codon containing slc24a5 mRNA transcript levels in melanocytes (PubMed:21227923).