Neuron-restrictive silencer element or repressor element-1 (NRSE/RE1), present in the transcriptional regulatory regions of multiple neuronal-specific genes, is a 21~23 bp conservative DNA sequence. Neuronal restricted silencing factor or RE1-silencing transcription factor (NRSF/REST) can bind to the NRSE, and then the gene repression was mediated in part through the association of its NH2-terminal repression domain with the corepressor mSin3, resulting in the recruitment of histone deacetylase (HDAC) and consequent acetylization, and its COOH-terminal repression domain with the corepressor CoREST, that may serve as a platform protein for assembly of specialized repressor machinery. The recent study show that NRSE dsRNA can trigger gene expression of neuron-specific genes through interaction with protein NRSF at transcriptional level, rather than through siRNA or miRNA at posttranscriptional level.