A novel missense mutation (codon 351, GCT (Ala) --> CCT (Pro)) of the FIX gene was characterised in a young female with mild hemophilia B. She is heterozygous for the FIX mutation inherited from her carrier mother. Analysis of the methyl-sensitive Hpa II sites at the 5' end of the hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase gene showed that skewed inactivation of the X chromosome carrying her normal FIX gene accounted for the hemophilia phenotype.