This gene is a member of the DEAH-box family of RNA-dependent NTPases which are named after the conserved amino acid sequence Asp-Glu-Ala-His in motif II. The protein encoded by this gene has been shown to enhance the deadenylation and decay of mRNAs with 3'-UTR AU-rich elements (ARE-mRNA). The protein has also been shown to resolve into single strands the highly stable tetramolecular DNA configuration (G4) that can form spontaneously in guanine-rich regions of DNA. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms. [provided by RefSeq].