We have studied the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PtdIns 3-kinase) in insulin-stimulated Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells expressing normal (CHO/IR) and mutant human insulin receptors. Insulin stimulation of CHO/IR cells results in an increase in PtdIns 3-kinase activity associated with anti-phosphotyrosine (alpha PY) immunoprecipitates, which has been previously shown to correlate with the in vivo production of PtdIns(3,4)P2, and PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 (Ruderman, N., Kapeller, R., White, M.F., and Cantley, L.C. (1990) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 87, 1411-1415). Stimulation was maximal within 1 min and showed a dose response identical to that of insulin receptor autophosphorylation. The PtdIns 3-kinase also associated with the insulin receptor in an insulin-stimulated manner, as approximately 50% of the total alpha PY-precipitable activity could be specifically immunoprecipitated with anti-insulin receptor antibody. Mutant insulin receptors displayed variable ability to stimulate the PtdIns 3-kinase, but in all cases the presence of PtdIns 3-kinase in alpha PY immunoprecipitates correlated closely with the tyrosyl phosphorylation of the endogenous substrate pp185. In CHO cells expressing a kinase-deficient mutant (IRA1018), there was no observable insulin stimulation of PtdIns 3-kinase activity in alpha PY immunoprecipitates and no tyrosyl phosphorylation of pp185. Substitution of Tyr1146 in the insulin receptor regulatory region with phenylalanine partially impaired receptor autophosphorylation, pp185 phosphorylation, and insulin-stimulated increases in alpha PY-precipitable PtdIns 3-kinase activity. In contrast, a deletion mutant lacking 12 amino acids from the juxtamembrane region (IR delta 960) displayed normal in vivo autophosphorylation but failed to stimulate the PtdIns 3-kinase or phosphorylate pp185. Finally, a mutant receptor from which the C-terminal 43 amino acids had been deleted (IR delta CT) exhibited normal insulin-stimulated autophosphorylation, pp185 phosphorylation, and stimulation of the PtdIns 3-kinase activity in alpha PY immunoprecipitates. These data suggest that the PtdIns 3-kinase is itself a substrate of the insulin receptor kinase or associates preferentially with a substrate. A comparison of the biological activities of the mutant receptors with their activation of the PtdIns 3-kinase furthermore suggests that the PtdIns 3-kinase may be linked to insulin's ability to regulate DNA synthesis and cell growth.