Biosynthesis and intracellular transport of recombinant human full-length beta 1,4 galactosyltransferase (GT) and full-length alpha 2,6 sialyltransferase (ST) were investigated in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Recently, enzymic activity of recombinant GT (rGT) in crude homogenates of S. cerevisiae could successfully be demonstrated [Krezdorn, C., Watzele, G., Kleene, R. B., Ivanov, S. X. & Berger, E. G. (1993) Eur. J. Biochem. 212, 113-120]. In the present work, we show that, in yeast strains transformed with plasmid pDPSIA containing the cDNA coding for human ST, rST enzymic activity using asialo-fetuin or N-acetyllactosamine as acceptor substrates could readily be detected. Analysis by 1H-NMR spectroscopy of the disaccharide product of rGT, as recently reported, and the trisaccharide product of rST demonstrated that only the expected glycosidic linkages were formed. Following mechanical disruption of yeast cells, both enzymes sedimented with a fraction enriched in membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and were activated by Triton X-100 3-5-fold. rGT and rST could be immunoprecipitated from their [35S]Met-labelled transformed yeast extracts using polyclonal antibodies raised against fusion proteins consisting of beta-galactosidase-GT or beta-galactosidase-ST, respectively, expressed in Escherichia coli. For rGT a single glycosylated form of apparent molecular mass 48 kDa was reported, but for rST two main bands corresponding to apparent molecular masses of 48 kDa and 44 kDa, respectively, were detected. Immunoprecipitation from either tunicamycin-treated [35S]Met-labelled transformed yeast cells or labelling with radio-active sugars both indicated that the 44-kDa form of rST was non-glycosylated and that the 48-kDa form of rST was core N-glycosylated. In addition, core glycosylation of both recombinant enzymes demonstrated that they were competent for translocation across the ER membranes. However, the 44-kDa form of rST was converted to the 48-kDa glycosylated form only slowly, suggesting a mechanism of posttranslational translocation. Absence of hyperglycosylation of rST and rGT in wild type and lack of the Golgi-specific man-alpha 1,6-man epitope suggest that the recombinant enzymes did not enter the yeast Golgi apparatus. These results indicated that both rGT and rST are retained as enzymically active enzymes in the ER of yeast and suggest a ribonucleoprotein-independent import of rST into the ER.