In Northern blot analysis of a series of tumor cell lines a single hexokinase mRNA species of 4.3 Kb was detected. Detailed examination of one such line, the rat AS-30D hepatoma, revealed that two mitochondrial species of hexokinase are present with a molecular mass of 115 and 107 KDa. The smaller of the two species is 4-fold more active than the larger. Only the larger, less active species is detected in the well differentiated H-35 rat hepatoma cell line which exhibits a lower glucose catabolic rate. These results suggest that a post-translational proteolytic event may play a central role in regulating the glucose utilization capacity of tumor cells by modulating the relative levels of high and low activity forms of hexokinase.