Regulator of cell proliferation and cell survival of differentiated cells independent of cell division. Essential for imaginal disks formation. Not involved in cell polarity. Ubiquitously expressed. In larvae, it is expressed in all imaginal disks, salivary glands and weakly expressed in the gut. Expressed throughout embryogenesis. Expressed in larvae. Its transcript shares the first untranslated exon with the alpha-Spec transcript, suggesting a common regulation. It was initially identified as a candidate for quantitative trait locus (QTL) that affects olfaction. However, given that the mutant used to identify this gene also affects the alpha-Spec gene, this result is unclear.