Familial hypobetalipoproteinemia is an autosomal co-dominant disorder, which in a minority of cases is due to a truncation producing mutation in the apoB gene. We have identified an apoB mutation in a 40-year old hypobetalipoproteinemic man with Type II diabetes mellitus. Immunoblotting of plasma revealed a major band for apoB-100 and a minor band with estimated size between apoB-52 and apoB-55. The proband's 75-year old father with Type II diabetes and a non-diabetic daughter also possessed the truncated protein. Direct sequencing of the amplified fragment of genomic DNA revealed a C-->T transition at nt 7692 in exon 26 of the apoB gene. This substitution yielded a premature stop codon at residue 2495 and abolished a BsaI restriction endonuclease site. The identical mutation has been described previously; however, the genotypes and ancestors of the kindred were different, suggesting that the mutation may have occurred independently. The majority of apoB-55 was eluted as particles smaller than LDL-sized apoB-100, and floated mostly between the LDL and HDL density range. It is worth noting that despite the presence of Type II diabetes, both the proband and his father have very low plasma lipid levels and neither have any clinically manifest macrovascular complications.