This gene encodes a preproprotein that is cleaved to yield two peptides, ghrelin and obestatin. The hormone ghrelin plays a role in enhancing appetite and has numerous other biological functions that include stimulating the secretion of growth hormone (somatotropin) from the anterior pituitary gland. Obestatin is thought to be a hormone that functions in decreasing appetite. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms. [provided by RefSeq, Nov 2013]