Involved in the nucleolar processing of SSU 18S rRNA. Involved in T-cell activation and highly coregulated with IL2. Expressed in heart, placenta, liver, skeletal muscle, kidney and pancreas. In ocular tissues, strong expression in iris, sclera, ciliary muscle, ciliary body, retina and optic nerve. The WD repeats are grouped into two tandem seven-bladed beta-propeller regions. The disease is caused by variants affecting the gene represented in this entry. Depletion of WDR36 mRNA in cultured cells causes apoptotic cell death and consistently associates with a reduced 21S rRNA and delay of 18S rRNA maturation.