Regulator of post-transcriptional mitochondrial gene expression, required for assembly of the mitochondrial ribosome and for recruitment of mRNA and lncRNA. Binds RNAs containing the 14 base G-rich element. Preferentially binds RNAs transcribed from three contiguous genes on the light strand of mtDNA, the ND6 mRNA, and the long non-coding RNAs for MT-CYB and MT-ND5, each of which contains multiple consensus binding sequences (PubMed:23473033, PubMed:23473034, PubMed:29967381). Involved in the degradosome-mediated decay of non-coding mitochondrial transcripts (MT-ncRNA) and tRNA-like molecules (PubMed:29967381). Acts by unwinding G-quadruplex RNA structures in MT-ncRNA, thus facilitating their degradation by the degradosome (PubMed:29967381). G-quadruplexes (G4) are non-canonical 4 stranded structures formed by transcripts from the light strand of mtDNA (PubMed:29967381).
