A 36 year old man with a large goiter was suspected of having iodide (I-) transport defect based on low thyroidal and salivary gland radioiodide uptake. Thyroid surgery was performed, because thyroid cytology could not exclude a malignancy. Sequencing of the entire Na+/I- symporter (NIS) cDNA derived from thyroidal mRNA revealed a homozygous substitution of the normal cytosine in nucleotide (nt) 1163 with an adenine, resulting in a stop (TGA) at codon 272. This nonsense mutation produces a truncated NIS with undetectable I- transport activity when expressed into COS-7 cells. Genotyping confirmed that the propositus was homozygous for the mutation whereas his unaffected mother, son, and paternal aunt were heterozygous. This nt substitution was not detected in any of 50 normal individuals, ruling out a polymorphism. While the homozygous mutant NIS-272X causes congenital hypothyroidism, expression of one normal allele in the heterozygote (C272X) is sufficient to maintain active thyroidal I- uptake and function.