Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase regulatory subunit alpha is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the PIK3R1 gene. Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase phosphorylates the inositol ring of phosphatidylinositol at the 3-prime position. The enzyme comprises a 110 kD catalytic subunit and a regulatory subunit of either 85, 55, or 50 kD. This gene encodes the 85 kD regulatory subunit. Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase plays an important role in the metabolic actions of insulin, and a mutation in this gene has been associated with insulin resistance. Alternative splicing of this gene results in three transcript variants encoding different isoforms.