Immediate glycosylation of Sindbis virus membrane proteins.

The mechanism by which the membrane proteins of Sindbis virus are initially glycosylated during growth of the virus in chick cells was studied. The experiments suggest strongly that the two viral glycoproteins are glycosylated before release from the polysome, and that this glycosylation involves transfer of a large 1800 dalton oligosaccharide to the polypeptide chains. The donor of the oligosaccharide is most probably a lipid.