Absence of a cleavable signal sequence in Sindbis virus glycoprotein PE2

Partial NH2-terminal sequence analysis has been performed on some products that result from the translation of 26 S mRNA of Sindbis virus either in vivo or in vitro. In vivo products were obtained after pulse-labeling of virus-infected cells. In vitro products were obtained after cell-free translation either in the absence or presence of microsomal membrane vesicles from dog pancreas. The sequence data indicate that the selective translocation across the microsomal membrane required for a distinct portion of one of the integral viral envelope proteins (PE2) is not accompanied by cleavage of its putative signal sequence. Furthermore, the NH2-terminal sequence of a proteolytic derivative (PE'2) that contains the bulk of PE2 and that is generated after exposure of the microsomal vesicles to proteolytic enzymes is identical to that of intact PE2, strongly suggesting that only a COOH-terminal portion of PE2 is excluded from translocation across the microsomal membrane.