Surface glycoproteins of normal and transformed cells: a difference determined by sialic acid and a growth-dependent sialyl transferase.

The pattern of elution from a column of Sephadex G-50 of a fucose-labeled carbohydrate component derived from the surface glycoproteins of transformed cells can be altered to resemble that from untransformed cells by enzymatic removal of the sialic acid. These results indicate that the consistent differences found between control and virus-transformed cells may depend upon a relatively specific sialyl transferase that is found in greater amounts (2.5- to 11-times) in transformed cells than in control cells, and in dividing cells as compared to nondividing cells.