Dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase (E3) belongs to the protein family of pyridine nucleotide-disulfide oxidoreductases, including glutathione reductase (GR). The two subunits of human GR are covalently linked by an intersubunit disulfide bond between the pair of the Cys-90 residues. The corresponding residue (Ser-79) in human E3 was substituted to Cys using site-directed mutagenesis. The mutant was expressed in Escherichia coli and highly purified using an affinity column. About 40% of the mutants formed a spontaneous intersubunit disulfide bond linkage. This result implies that Ser-79 and possibly surrounding residues constitute one of the several intersubunit contact regions in human E3. It provides another good piece of evidence for the predicted high degree of the structural homology between human E3 and GR. Spectroscopic studies indicate conformational changes in the mutant.