The subcellular distribution and nature of rat renal renin has been investigated by means of analytical subcellular fractionation and gel filtration on Sephadex G-100. During differential centrifugation, renin activity was recovered mainly in soluble and heavy mitochondrial fractions. On sucrose gradient centrifugation in either a conventional or in a B XIV zonal rotor, renin activity equilibrated at 1.54 M sucrose and was partially resolved from marker enzymes for mitochondria (succinate dehydrogenase), lysosomes (acid phosphatase), plasma membranes (alkaline phosphatase), and peroxisomes (catalase). On gel filtration of the soluble or extracts of the renin-granular fractions on Sephadex G-100, renin activity eluted as a single peak with an apparent molecular weight (MW) of 42,000; no change in activity was found when these fractions were acidified to pH 3.0. When kidney homogenates were prepared in the presence of the proteolytic inhibitor N-ethylmaleimide (NEM, 10 mM), whereas the renin from the granular fractions displayed a MW of 44,000, that from the soluble fraction was apparently higher (69,000). Addition of NEM (10 mM) to the soluble fraction previously shown to contain only the low MW form of renin also resulted in an apparently high MW form of renin. These results indicate that rat renal renin is associated with a mechanically fragile, distinct type of subcellular organelle. Renin within this structure is of the low MW form and is not acid activatable. The soluble fraction, however, contains a factor(s) that, in the presence of NEM, combines with the low MW renin to form a complex of apparently high MW.