The site of the nascent polypeptide chain as it leaves the ribosome has been localized on the "exit domain" of the Escherichia coli ribosome by using IgG antibodies directed against the enzyme 13-galactosidase (EC 3.2.1.23). Thus, a functional site has been mapped on intact 70S ribosomes. The exit site is on the large subunit, approximately 70 A from the interface between subunits and nearly 150 A from the central protuberance, the likely site of peptide transfer. It is adjacent to the region corresponding to the rough endoplasmic membrane binding region ofthe eukaryotic ribosome but distant from ribosomal components participating in mRNA recognition and polypeptide elongation (ie., distant from the "translational domain"). These results, together with the protease protection experiments of others, provide evidence that the nascent protein chain probably passes through the ribosome in an unfolded, fully extended conformation.The ribosome, as the organelle that translates genetic messages into proteins, has roles both in the translation of the message and in the manufacture and secretion ofthe protein. Currently, a good deal is known about the biochemistry of ribosomal components and factors, but this knowledge is only now being integrated with that of ribosomal three-dimensional structure. Although the locations of many of the ribosomal components involved in the translation ofthe code are known, little is known about the location and path of the protein chain as it passes through the ribosome. Those sites functioning in translation are clustered into part of the ribosome, composing approximately two-thirds of its volume, that we have named the "translational domain. " Functional sites contained in the translational domain include: the initiation factor binding sites (1-4) located in the cleft of the small subunit, the messenger binding sites located on the platform of the small subunit (3,(5)(6)(7), the peptidyltransferase and the 5S RNA located on the central protuberance of the large subunit (8)(9)(10)(11), and proteins mediating the GTP-dependent steps of translation that are found on the L7/L12 stalk of the large subunit (12). Together, these sites define the translational domain.In this paper, we have investigated the location ofthe nascent chain as it emerges from the ribosome, a function associated with protein secretion rather than the translation steps just described. Using antibodies directed against the enzyme ,B-galactosidase (EC 3.2.1.23) to map the exit site ofthe nascent protein chain, we find that it exits from the ribosome at a single region, located on the large subunit. This region is distant from the translational domain and is approximately 150 A from the presumed site of the peptidyltransferase (8,9). No functional site has been mapped directly on 70S ribosomes previously, and in addition the site is found on a region of the 50S subunit where no proteins or functions have been previously found. The corresponding region of the eukaryotic ribosome (13, 14), however, contains a ribos...