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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Oct 14.
Published in final edited form as: Cell Mol Life Sci. 2010 Aug 1;67(22):3849–3863. doi: 10.1007/s00018-010-0471-y

Figure 3. Novel endogenous small RNA pathways under normal growth conditions (or microRNA-like RNAi pathways and disiRNA pathway?) in N. crassa.

Figure 3

microRNA-like small RNAs are present in Neurospora with at least four different biogenesis mechanisms: (a) Dicer, QDE-2 and QIP-dependent milRNA-1; (b) Dicer-dependent milR-3; (c) Partial Dicer-dependent milR-4; (d) Dicer-independent, Argonaute QDE-2-dependent milR-2. As in aminals and plants, miRNA mediated RNAi pathway may be present in Neurospora, which is here exemplified by milRNA-1. milRNA-1 is first processed from primary milRNA precursor by Dicers into pre-milRNAs, which are further processed into mature milRNA-1s by QDE-2 and QIP. MRPL3 may involve both the pre- and mature milRNA-1 production. milRNA-1 can regulate gene expression and silence the complementary targets, probably via the similar mi-RISC-like complex as that in aminals and plants, with the Argaunote QDE-2 as the core component. Another novel RNAi pathway present in Neurospora could be the (e) Dicer-independent disiRNA pathway. disiRNAs are a novel class of QDE-2 associated small RNAs probably produced from dsRNAs, but their biogenesis do not dependent any known RNAi components.