ATP-dependent RNA helicase that plays a role in the regulation of R-loop homeostasis in both endogenous R-loop-prone regions and at sites of DNA damage. At endogenous loci such as actively transcribed genes, may act as a helicase to resolve the formation of R- loop during transcription and prevent the interference of R-loop with DNA-replication machinery. Also participates in the removal of DNA- lesion-associated R-loop (PubMed:35858569). Plays an essential role for establishing pluripotency during embryogenesis and for pluripotency maintenance in embryonic stem cells. Mechanistically, prevents the polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) from accessing rDNA loci and protects the active chromatin status in nucleolus (By similarity). . This is the function of DDX18 (DEAD-box helicase 18, Ensembl gene identifier ENSG00000088205).