LIG3 is a member of the DNA ligase family. Each member of this family encodes a protein that catalyzes the joining of DNA ends but they each have a distinct role in DNA metabolism. The protein encoded by this gene is involved in excision repair and is located in both the mitochondria and nucleus, with translation initiation from the upstream start codon allowing for transport to the mitochondria and translation initiation from a downstream start codon allowing for transport to the nucleus. Additionally, alternate transcriptional splice variants, encoding different isoforms, have been characterized.