A novel mutation Arg1131-->Gln in the catalytic loop of insulin receptor (IR) associated with insulin resistant diabetes was detected. A 56-year-old male with hyperinsulinemia (fasting IRI 92 microU/ml) showed moderate impairment in glucose tolerance (HbAlc 7.0%, fructosamine 258 mumol/l, fasting glucose 119 mg/dl, maximum value of blood glucose during 75 g OGTT 220 mg/dl). While insulin binding to erythrocytes IR was normal, the insulin-induced autophosphorylation of the patient's erythrocytes IR in vivo showed marked decrease, suggesting this patient had some defect in the kinase domain (exon 17-21) of IR. PCR-SSCP analysis of kinase domain with a genomic DNA obtained from the patient's leucocytes indicated the presence of some mutations in exon 19. Sequencing analysis in M13 revealed a heterozygous mutation at a position 1131 (CGG-->CAG) substituting Gln for Arg. Four people of patient's family analyzed are revealed to have an identical missense mutation at the same position with the patient.