Probable GTPase that plays a role in the mitochondrial ribosomal small subunit assembly. Specifically binds the 12S mitochondrial rRNA (12S mt-rRNA) to a 33 nucleotide section delineating the 3' terminal stem-loop region. May act as a chaperone that protects the 12S mt-rRNA on the 28S mitoribosomal subunit during ribosomal small subunit assembly. {ECO:0000269|PubMed:20430825, ECO:0000269|PubMed:20604745, ECO:0000269|PubMed:28449065}. This is the function of ERAL1 (Era like 12S mitochondrial rRNA chaperone 1, Ensembl gene identifier ENSG00000132591).