We have identified a non-insulin-dependent diabetic patient with fasting hyperinsulinemia (90 microU/ml), an elevated insulin:C-peptide molar ratio (1.68; normal, 0.05-0.20), normal insulin counterregulatory hormone levels, and an adequate response to exogenously administered insulin. Insulin-binding antibodies were absent from serum, erythrocyte insulin receptor binding was normal, and greater than 90% of circulating immunoreactive insulin coeluted with 125I-labeled insulin on gel filtration. The patient's insulin diluted in parallel with a human standard in the insulin radioimmunoassay, confirming close molecular similarity. The patient's insulin was purified from serum and shown to possess both reduced binding and ability to stimulate glucose uptake and oxidation in vitro. Analysis of the patient's insulin by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) revealed two products: 7.3% of insulin immunoreactivity coeluted with the human standard, while the remaining 92.7% eluted as a single peak with increased hydrophobicity. Family studies confirmed the presence of hyperinsulinemia in four of five relatives in three generations, with secretion of an abnormal insulin documented by HPLC in the three tested. Leukocyte DNA was harvested from the propositus and the insulin gene cloned. One allele was normal, but the other displayed a thymine for guanine substitution at nucleotide position 1298 from the putative cap site, resulting in a leucine for valine substitution at position 3 of the insulin A chain. Insulin Wakayama is therefore identified as [LeuA3] insulin.