Specifically dimethylates two adjacent adenosines in the loop of a conserved hairpin near the 3′-end of 18S rRNA in the 40S particle (PubMed:25851604). Involved in the pre-rRNA processing steps leading to small-subunit rRNA production independently of its RNA-modifying catalytic activity (PubMed:25851604). Part of the small subunit (SSU) processome, first precursor of the small eukaryotic ribosomal subunit. During the assembly of the SSU processome in the nucleolus, many ribosome biogenesis factors, an RNA chaperone and ribosomal proteins associate with the nascent pre-rRNA and work in concert to generate RNA folding, modifications, rearrangements and cleavage as well as targeted degradation of pre-ribosomal RNA by the RNA exosome (PubMed:34516797).
