Members of the Alu family of interspersed, repetitive DNA sequences are in the small circular DNA population of monkey cells grown in culture

Small, polydisperse circular DNA isolated from the BSC-1 line of African Green Monkey kidney cells was shown, by cross hybridization with an Alu repetitive DNA probe, to contain sequences homologous to the Alu family of mobile, dispersed repetitive DNA sequences. The circular nature of these molecules was demonstrated by two independent techniques. In addition Alu sequences were detected in a bank of cloned spc-DNA. The nucleotide sequence for one of these clones was determined and found to be homologous to 83% of a human Alu consensus sequence. The absence of short direct repeats, which usually flank Alu repetitive DNA sequence elements, is consistent with a variety of models in which Alu-containing spc-DNAs represent intermediates in the movement of Alu-dispersed genetic elements between chromosomal sites.