This is a family of unknown function. Family members are ribosomal proteins found in the mitochondria (RPS12). Homologus RPS12 proteins in bacterial ribosoms participate in stabilizing the second base pair of the codon-anticodon duplex in the A site and is likely to be critical for the fidelity of decoding process. A similar role can be anticipated for this protein in mitochondrial ribosomes. This has been shown where the product of edited RPS12 mRNA translation represented a component of the mitoribosome's small subunit [1].

1: Kinetoplast DNA-encoded ribosomal protein S12: a possible functional link between mitochondrial RNA editing and translation in Trypanosoma brucei. Aphasizheva I, Maslov DA, Aphasizhev R; RNA Biol. 2013;10:1679-1688. PMID:24270388