Scientists in Robert Weinberg's laboratory in the late 1970s and early 1980s used DNA from tumor cell lines to transform mouse fibroblasts (NIH-3T3 cells). They then isolated the transforming gene (a mutant oncogene) using the Alu sequences that went along for the ride.
This image is linked to the following World Library of Science pages:
Alu elements have long been considered "junk" DNA--or, even worse, "selfish" DNA. Turns out, these prolific transposons are much more useful than originally thought.
