Considerable data support a genetic basis to susceptibility for NIDDM, but previous analysis of candidate genes has failed to identify a major susceptibility locus. Among regions with multiple potential candidates is chromosome 11, which includes the apolipoprotein C3 cluster, muscle glycogen phosphorylase, two insulin-dependent diabetes loci, the sulfonylurea receptor, and ataxia telangiectasia. To test linkage, we initially typed 19 markers at 10- to 15-cM intervals along chromosome 11. Analyses carried out under parametric models in members of 16-19 families of northern European ancestry detected possible linkage of NIDDM to D11S916. Nonparametric methods detected possible linkage to NIDDM at D11S901, which was 5- 10 cM distant, and at D11S935, which was approximately 30 cM distant. Both D11S916 and D11S901 were near the IDDM4 locus. To further test linkage, we typed five additional markers within 5 cM of D11S916 in the initial 19 families. We also tested markers from the linked region in a second set of recently sampled additional families. Two additional markers (D11S527 and D11S534) showed possible linkage in the initial 19 families, but none of the markers were linked to NIDDM in a separate set of families from the same ethnic background. The best evidence for linkage in the combined data set of the initial 19 families and 26 additional families was at D11S534 under parametric analysis (Z = 1.20) and at D11S935 under nonparametric analysis (affected pedigree number, P = 0.0013). Our findings suggest marginal evidence for a diabetes susceptibility locus in the region between D11S901 and D11S935, with the best evidence for a locus at or near D11S935. Replication of these findings in other populations will be necessary to distinguish false-positive linkage from a true NIDDM susceptibility locus.