A case of genetic variegation discovered at the opaque-2 locus of maize that includes a two-element system with a receptor and regulatory element is described. The somatic mutability depends on the existence of two genetic factors: a responsive allele (with receptor element), o2m(r), and a regulatory element, Bg, that induces mutability of o2m(r). In the absence of Bg, o2m(r) is indistiguishable from the recessive alleles of the O2 locus; in the presence of the regulatory element, o2m(r) mutates giving rise to sectors of flint-like endosperm in an opaque back-ground. The regulatory element Bg may be located independently or at the controlled locus. The genetic properties of the new system, somatic mutability, transposition, existence of different patterns of mutability, are apparently similar to those previously described in maize for the classical systems of controlling elements. In addition, the recovery of the o2 mutability from crosses between spontaneous o2 alleles suggests that transposable genetic elements may be involved in the origin of natural mutability.