Slx9 is required for pre-rRNA processing. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Slx9 is associated with the 90S pre-ribosome and 43S small ribosomal subunit precursor []. The early stages of ribosomes biogenesis includes processing of the 35S pre-ribosomal RNA transcript into the mature 18S, 5.8S, and 25S rRNA molecules. The 35S precursor contains external transcribed spacer elements (5' and 3'-ETS) at either end as well as internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2) that separate the mature sequences []. Slx9 is implicated in the processing events that remove the ITS1 spacer sequences [].
