Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Is the outer covering of viruses a capsid made of chitin?

A complete virus particle, known as a virion, is little more than a gene transporter, consisting in its simplest form of nucleic acid surrounded by a protective coat of protein called a capsid. A capsid is composed of proteins encoded by the viral genome and its shape serves as the basis for morphological distinction. Virally coded protein subunits - sometimes called protomers - will self-assemble to form the capsid, generally requiring the presence of the virus genome - however, many complex viruses code for proteins which assist in the construction of their capsid. Proteins associated with nucleic acid are known as nucleoproteins, and the association of viral capsid proteins with viral nucleic acid is called a nucleocapsid.



Is the outer covering of viruses a capsid made of chitin?symantic



No. Chitin is a type of sugar (polysacharide) and is what the outer shell of lobsters, shrimps, ants ,etc is made of. The outer covering of a virus is either protein or lipid.



Is the outer covering of viruses a capsid made of chitin?viruses



No, protein. Hey Michael B., chitin is in the cell walls of fungi.
yes
no
No. The outer covering of viruses is made of protein not Chitin. Chitin is a polysaccharide that helps in forming hard outer covering for insects.



if you are intrested then look at my answer in the following link :

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