Aims/hypothesis. To investigate the contribution of mutations in maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) and mitochondrial genes to early-onset diabetes with a strong family history of diabetes in a cohort with a high prevalence of Type I (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus. Methods. Screening for sequence variants in the hepatocyte nuclear factor (HNF)–4 α (MODY1), glucokinase (MODY2), HNF-1 α (MODY3) genes and mitochondrial DNA was carried out in 115 Finnish and Swedish patients with early-onset ( ≤ 40 years) diabetes using the single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) technique and direct sequencing. Allele frequencies were compared with 118 patients with onset of diabetes Type II (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus after the age of 40 and 92 non–diabetic control subjects without a family history of diabetes. Results. In total 52 sequence variants were found in the HNF-1α, HNF-4α and glucokinase genes, 12 of which were considered as MODY mutations. Three families had the A3243G mutation in the mitochondrial tRNA ^Leu gene, which resulted in an overall prevalence of these mutations of 13 %. Conclusion/interpretation. Among 115 Scandinavian families, mutations in the HNF-1α gene represented the most common cause of familial early-onset ( ≤ 40 years) diabetes: MODY3 (5.2 %) more than MODY2 (3.5 %) more than MIDD (2.6 %) more than MODY1 (1.7 %). [Diabetologia (1999) 42: 1131–1137]