Component of the 17S U2 SnRNP complex of the spliceosome, a large ribonucleoprotein complex that removes introns from transcribed pre-mRNAs.The 17S U2 SnRNP complex 1 directly participates in early spliceosome assembly and 2 mediates recognition of the intron branch site during pre-mRNA splicing by promoting the selection of the pre-mRNA branch-site adenosine, the nucleophile for the first step of splicing.