Using 78-kildalton glucose-regulated protein cDNA as a probe of Northern blots, we have examined the distribution and inducibility of mRNA encoding the 78-kilodalton glucose-regulated protein in three tissues of nonobese diabetic mice. The gene was constitutively expressed in normal, unstressed cells of liver, brain, and spleen. Developing diabetes correlated with elevated expression in only liver and brain of diabetic mice. This induction of gene expression was associated with the transition from the prediabetic stage to the onset of hyperglycemia and coincided with falling levels of plasma insulin and rising hyperglycemia. The activation of 78-kilodalton glucose-regulated protein gene expression appeared to be transient. We suggest that the temporally differential, tissue-specific expression of this gene in adult nonobese diabetic mice offers an opportunity to study a physiologically relevant regulation of this stress-induced gene.