Carbohydrates of influenza virus. III. Nature of oligosaccharide-protein linkage in viral glycoproteins.

Four different glycopeptides can be distinguished after pronase digestion of influenza A virus glycoproteins: Ia and Ib, containing N-acetylglucosamine, mannose, galactose, and fucose, and IIa and IIb, containing mannose and N-acetylglucosamine. All glycopeptides yielded N-acetylglucosaminyl-asparagine after mild acid hydrolysis. There was no evidence for O-glycosidic bonds. Thus, the carbohydrate complement is linked to the polypeptide exclusively by N-glycosidic linkages between N-acetylglucosamine and asparagine.