Neurospora
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N. crassa |
Neurospora is a genus of fungi. The genus name, meaning "nerve spore" refers to the characteristic striations on the spores that resemble axons.
The best known species in this genus is Neurospora crassa, which is used as a model organism in biology.
Neurospora is notable because it was used by George Wells Beadle and Edward Lawrie Tatum in X-ray mutation experiments in order to discover mutants that would differ in nutritional requirements.
The results of their experiments led them to hypothesize upon the one gene-one enzyme hypothesis, in which they postulated that every enzyme was encoded with its own gene.
Neurospora was chosen because it is quickly reproducing, is easy to culture, and was already able to survive on minimal media (inorganic salts, glucose, water and biotin in agar.
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