Required maternally for germline survival by forming a maternal complex with gld-3. During hermaphrodite development forms a complex with gld-3 which promotes the sperm/oocyte switch freeing the translational repressor fbf to turn off sperm promoting factors. Required for proper oocyte differentiation and oogenic meiotic arrest. Stimulates the enzymatic activity of gld-4 and together they prevent gld-1 mRNA degradation. Isoform C interacts (via C-terminus) with gld-3 isoform A (via C-terminus) in an RNA-independent manner. Isoform C interacts with gld-4. Localizes to P granules. Additional isoforms seem to exist. Experimental confirmation may be lacking for some isoforms. Expressed in the germline (at protein level). In the early embryo is expressed in all cells, then becomes gradually restricted to the germ cell lineage and enriches in P granules (at protein level). In adult hermaphrodites, is expressed in the mitotic region, accumulates during early stages of meiotic prophase I and is slightly less abundant in maturing oocytes (at protein level). Expressed both maternally and zygotically throughout development and in adult hermaphrodites (at protein level). Loss of maternal and zygotic expression causes germline survival defects. Zygotic mutants show a masculinized hermaphrodite germline. At 25 degress Celsius, hermaphrodite zygotic mutants show small oogenic cells that are either arrested in pachytene or have undergone abnormal meiotic prophase progression and failed to arrest in diakinesis, often resulting in endoreduplicating oocyte nuclei. Trans-spliced exclusively to SL2, suggesting a transcriptional coregulation with the upstream gene dhfr-1. Extended N-terminus.