The RNase PH-like exosome proteins, PNPase and RNase PH all belong to the RNase PH family of RNases and are phosphorolytic exoribonucleases, meaning that they use inorganic phosphate to remove nucleotides from the 3' end of RNA molecules.
Because of this high similarity in both protein domains and structure, these complexes are thought to be evolutionarily related and have a common ancestor.