Catalysis of the endonucleolytic cleavage of RNA with 5'-phosphomonoesters and 3'-OH termini; makes two staggered cuts in both strands of dsRNA, leaving a 3' overhang of 2 nt.
Synonyms:
narrow_synonym:
pre-mRNA 3'-end processing endonuclease
related_synonym:
RNase III activity; ribonuclease 3 activity
xref:
EC:3.1.26.3; MetaCyc:3.1.26.3-RXN; Reactome:R-HSA-9708292 "DICER1 cleaves tRNA"; Reactome:R-HSA-9708408 "DICER1 cleaves tRNA Lys TTT 3 in tRNA:HIV RNA hybrid"; Reactome:R-HSA-9820840 "DICER1 hydrolyzes maternal mRNA:lncRNA to yield endosiRNA"; reactome:R-HSA-203862 "Dicer cleaves pre-miRNA to yield duplex miRNA"; reactome:R-HSA-203893 "Microprocessor complex cleaves pri-miRNA to pre-miRNA"; reactome:R-HSA-426464 "Dicer cleaves double-stranded RNA to yield double-stranded siRNA"