A set of mRNAs tagged by repetitive sequences of the ID family were found to accumulate following growth-factor-induced transition of normal (FR3T3) rat fibroblasts from a quiescent to a proliferative state. The levels of the same transcripts were also increased following transformation by polyoma virus and by ras and myc oncogenes. The presence of the ID element appeared to be determinant, since a similar pattern of expression was observed for a construct where one element had been inserted in the 3' noncoding region of a rabbit beta-globin gene expressed under control of an SV40 promoter.