该基因编码的蛋白质催化精氨酸生物合成途径的倒数第二步。这个基因大约有10到14个拷贝，包括散布在人类基因组中的假基因，其中9号染色体上的一个似乎是精氨酸琥珀酸合成酶的唯一功能基因。该基因9号染色体拷贝突变引起瓜氨酸血症。两个编码相同蛋白质的转录变体被发现用于这个基因。
The protein encoded by this gene catalyzes the penultimate step of the arginine biosynthetic pathway. There are approximately 10 to 14 copies of this gene including the pseudogenes scattered across the human genome, among which the one located on chromosome 9 appears to be the only functional gene for argininosuccinate synthetase. Mutations in the chromosome 9 copy of this gene cause citrullinemia. Two transcript variants encoding the same protein have been found for this gene.