Mayaro virus was grown in BHK-21 cells and purified by centrifugation in a potassium-tartrate gradient (5-50%). The electron microscopy analyses of the purified virus showed an homogeneous population of enveloped particles with 69 +/- 2.3 nm in diameter. Three structural virus proteins were identified and designated p1, p2 and p3. Their average molecular weight were p1, 54 KDa; p2, 50 KDa and p3, 34 KDa. In Mayaro virus infected Aedes albopictus cells and in BHK-21 infected cells we detected six viral proteins, in which three of them are the structural virus proteins and the other three were products from processing of precursors of viral proteins, whose molecular weights are 62 KDa, 64 KDa and 110 KDa. The 34 KDa protein was the first viral protein synthesized at 5 hours post-infection in both cell lines studied.