In this paper an immunodominant epitope of Topoisomerase I is described. An epitope expression sublibrary was constructed from Topoisomerase I cDNA. The subclones were screened with an antiserum from a patient with systemic sclerosis (SSc). The positive clones defined one immunodominant B cell epitope (epitope III), which was located at the carboxyterminal part of the protein. The epitope, 52 amino acids in length, neither contains the p30gag sequence nor the suggested active site Tyr-723, both presumed antibody recognition sites. More than 70% of our anti-TopoI sera recognize this epitope III, indicating that it is a major recognition site of the anti-TopoI autoantibodies in SSc sera. DNA relaxation experiments show that all sera that recognize epitope III and most sera with antibodies to other epitopes inhibit Topoisomerase I activity.