Ribosomes, the organelles that catalyze protein synthesis, consist of a small 40S subunit and a large 60S subunit. Together these subunits are composed of 4 RNA species and approximately 80 structurally distinct proteins.

RPS17 encodes a ribosomal protein that is a component of the 40S subunit. The protein belongs to the S17E family of ribosomal proteins. It is located in the cytoplasm. As is typical for genes encoding ribosomal proteins, there are multiple processed pseudogenes of this gene dispersed through the genome.The deduced RPS17 protein has 135 amino acids. The authors reported that the RPS17 gene appears to have been stringently conserved during evolution. The functional RPS17 gene contains 5 exons spanning 4 kb.