A mutational alteration in the signal sequence of ribose-binding protein (RBP) of Escherichia coli, rbsB103, completely blocks the export of the protein to the periplasm. Intragenic suppressors for this mutation have been selected on minimal medium with ribose as a sole carbon source. Six suppressor mutations were characterized in detail and were found to have single amino acid wubstitution in the mature portion of RBP, which resulted in the mobility shift of the proteins on SDS polyacrylamide gel. Amino acid changes of these suppressors were localized in several peptides which are packed to form the N terminal domain of typical bilobate conformation of RBP. The involvement of SecB, a molecular chaperone, was investigated in the suppression of signal sequence mutation. Translocation efficency was found to be increased by the presence of SecB for all suppressors. It is likely that the folding characteristics of RBP altered by the suppressor mutations affect the affinity of interaction between SecB and RBP.