Use of Transposable Elements - Transposon Tagging - The transposable elements (TEs), in some cases, have been effectively utilized for isolation of genes, when the gene product is unknown. In this case a transposon works as a mutagen and therefore as a gene tag.

Following steps which are involved in this procedure:

(i) Clone a known gene with a scorable phenotypic effect.

(ii) TE is transposed to this gene to get an unstable allele.

For transposon tagging, often transposable elements endogenous to species like maize and snapdragon have been used However, rarely transposons available from one plant species can be moved into the genome of another plant species, whose gene is to be isolated.

For instance Ac, element of maize has been transferred to tobacco, where it can integrate into any lacus permitting transposm tagging and gene isolation.