Predicted to enable mRNA binding activity; translation initiation factor activity; and translation initiation factor binding activity. Involved in axon midline choice point recognition. Predicted to be located in cytosol. Predicted to be part of eukaryotic 43S preinitiation complex; eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 complex; and multi-eIF complex. Is expressed in adult head and organism. Orthologous to human EIF2S2 (eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 subunit beta).