A major 125-kd membrane glycoprotein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is attached to the lipid bilayer through an inositol-containing phospholipid.

A number of plasma membrane glycoproteins of mammalian and protozoan origin are released from cells by phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C. Some of these proteins have been shown to be attached to the lipid bilayer via a covalently linked, structurally complex glycophospholipid. Here we establish the existence of similarly linked glycoproteins in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The most abundant of these is a tightly membrane-bound glycoprotein of 125 kd. The detergent-binding moiety of this protein can be removed by phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C of bacterial origin or from Trypanosoma brucei. Metabolic labeling indicates that the protein contains covalently attached fatty acid and inositol. It also contains the cross-reacting determinant (CRD), an antigen found previously on the glycophospholipid anchor of protozoan and mammalian origin. Treatment of the protein with endoglycosidases F and H results in a 95-kd species. In the secretion mutant sec18, grown at 37 degrees C, the vesicular transport of glycoproteins is reversibly blocked between the rough endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus. We find that sec18 cells, when grown at 37 degrees C, do add phospholipid anchors to newly synthesized glycoproteins. This indicates that these anchors are added in the rough endoplasmic reticulum.