ATP-dependent RNA helicase that may play a role in various aspects of RNA metabolism including pre-mRNA splicing or ribosomal RNA production (PubMed:12027455). Also acts as a viral restriction factor and promotes the activation of the NF-kappa-B and IRF3 signaling pathways following its stimulation with viral RNA or infection with RNA and DNA viruses (PubMed:35215908). For instance, decreases vaccinia virus, herpes simplex virus, Zika virus or dengue virus replication during the early stage of infection (PubMed:28181036, PubMed:35215908). Mechanistically, acts via the adapter TICAM1 and independently of the DDX1-DDX21-DHX36 helicase complex to induce the production of interferon-beta (PubMed:35215908). {ECO:0000269|PubMed:12027455, ECO:0000269|PubMed:28181036, ECO:0000269|PubMed:35215908}. This is the function of DDX50 (DExD-box helicase 50, Ensembl gene identifier ENSG00000107625).