We have cloned and sequenced the mouse NMO1 cDNA, which encodes the NAD(P)H:menadione oxidoreductase [also called NAD(P)H:(quinone acceptor) oxidoreductase; quinone reductase; azo dye reductase; DT diaphorase; EC 1.6.99.2]. The cDNA is 1528 bp in length excluding the poly(A+) tail, and has 5' and 3' nontranslated regions of 108 bp and 595 bp, respectively. The deduced protein contains 274 amino acids, including the first methionine (M(r) = 30,959). The mouse NMO1 protein is: 94% similar to the rat NMO1 and 86.5% to the human NMO1 proteins; 49.3% identical to the human NQO2 protein; and < 20% similar to several dozen other proteins in the quinone oxidoreductase superfamily. Southern hybridization analysis of mouse DNA reveals that the Nmo1 gene is likely to span less than a total of 20 kb. The Nmo1 gene is highly inducible by 2,3,7,8,-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (dioxin; TCDD) in mouse liver and mouse cell cultures. TCDD inducibility of NMO1 is detectable at 12 and 18 days of gestation, but markedly elevated at 1-3 weeks post partum as compared with the 6- and 12-week-old mouse. NMO1 mRNA levels are strikingly elevated in the untreated mouse hepatoma Hepa-1c1c7 mutant line c37 lacking CYP1A1 (aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase) activity, and in the untreated 14CoS/14CoS mouse cell line having an 'oxidative stress response' caused by homozygous deletion of about 3800 kb on chromosome 7. Previous work and the data in this report show that the murine Nmo1 gene is regulated by three distinct mechanisms: CYP1A1 metabolism-dependent repression, Ah receptor-mediated induction by TCDD, and activation by the chromosome 7-mediated oxidative stress response.