The fluorescent reagent N-(iodoacetylaminoethyl)-5-naphthylamine-1-sulfonic acid (I-AEDANS) was employed to detect and study the previously reported conformational change in the Escherichia coli ribosome induced by streptomycin. Labeling of ribosomes with this probe, which results in the derivatization of proteins S18 and L31', described earlier, inhibits neither their ribosomal protein synthesizing nor misreading ability. To calculate the amount of streptomycin bound to the ribosome, we determined the K'D for streptomycin, which is 0.24 micron, indicating that under our conditions, bound streptomycin/ribosome molar ratios are low, not in excess of 1. Under these conditions, streptomycin addition induces fluorescence quenching by 15% but does not affect streptomycin-resistant ribosomes. Maximal misreading occurs at these same ratios. Removal of AEDANS-L31' from the ribosomes drastically reduces streptomycin-induced quenching indicating the involvement of the environment of this protein in streptomycin action. The finding that streptomycin decreases AEDANS-L31' affinity for the ribosome supports this view. Streptomycin has been shown to bind to the 30 S subunit protein S4 while the 50 S protein L31' has been shown to be localized at the subunit interface. Thus, the observation that streptomycin influences this 50 S subunit protein L31', combined with the tight correlation between the effects of streptomycin on quenching and on misreading, strongly suggests that this antibiotic induces a conformational change at the subunit interface of the ribosome, and that this results in misreading. Polyuridylic acid also induces a conformational change in the ribosome but the polynucleotide and streptomycin seem to act independently. Streptomycin-resistant ribosomes, which undergo neither streptomycin-induced fluorescence nor streptomycin-induced misreading, are resistant to misreading induced by high Mg2+ as well.