Small RNA-mediated gene silencing in neurospora

Neurospora crassa is a filamentous fungus that serves as a eukaryotic model system for the study of many important biological processes. One of the earliest known examples of RNA silencing was discovered in Neurospora, and it has become an important experimental system for analyses of the mechanisms of RNA interference and small RNA biogenesis. Neurospora possesses two small RNA-based genome defense mechanisms, quelling and meiotic silencing of unpaired DNA. The known biogenesis pathways of small RNAs, including microRNA and DNA-damage-induced small RNAs, are surprisingly diverse. The studies of RNAi pathways and small RNA production in Neurospora have provided important insights into our understanding of small RNA-mediated gene silencing mechanisms in eukaryotic organisms.