ASP2 is an early and critical feature of Alzheimer's disease. Amyloid beta peptide is generated by proteolytic cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP) by two proteases, one of which is the protein encoded by this gene. The encoded protein, a member of the peptidase A1 protein family, is a type I integral membrane glycoprotein and aspartic protease that is found mainly in the Golgi. Four transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been described for this gene. Bace 1 is responsible for the proteolytic processing of the amyloid precursor protein (APP). Cleaves at the N-terminus of the A-beta peptide sequence, between residues 671 and 672 of APP, leads to the generation and extracellular release of beta-cleaved soluble APP, and a corresponding cell-associated C-terminal fragment which is later released by gamma-secretase.