Biology · Biological Classification · NEET
It is made of chitin and polysaccharides, NOT cellulose. This is a very common trap. Cellulose is the wall material of plants (Kingdom Plantae). NEET has asked this many times, and the wrong option is always 'purely cellulosic cell wall'. Remember: plants = cellulose, fungi = chitin.
Cellulose gives plant cells a strong, rigid wall. In fungi, chitin does the same job, giving strength and rigidity to the fungal wall. Because chitin plays the same role in fungi that cellulose plays in plants, it is nicknamed 'fungal cellulose'. It is a nickname, not the actual name of cellulose.
No. NCERT says the wall is made of 'chitin AND polysaccharides'. So chitin is a major component, but polysaccharides are also present. In a NEET MCQ, if it asks for 'one major component', the answer is chitin. If it asks the full composition, say 'chitin and polysaccharides'.
Chitin is a tough, nitrogen-containing polysaccharide (a polymer of N-acetylglucosamine). The same substance also forms the hard outer body (exoskeleton) of insects like cockroaches. So chitin appears in both fungi walls and insect bodies. For NEET, just remember: chitin is a polysaccharide, and it builds the fungal wall.
Bacteria (Kingdom Monera) have walls made of peptidoglycan (also called murein), which is polysaccharide + amino acids. Fungi have walls of chitin + polysaccharides. Plants have walls of cellulose. Three kingdoms, three wall materials. NEET loves to mix these up in 'select the wrong statement' questions.
Yes. Having a cell wall (made of chitin) is a defining feature of Kingdom Fungi. This is why fungi are placed with plants and Monera as wall-having kingdoms, unlike animals which have no cell wall. Note: even single-celled yeast (a fungus) has a chitin wall.
One of the major components of cell wall of most fungi is:
Which one of the following is wrong for fungi?
Arrange kingdoms in increasing order of complexity: A. Multicellular heterotrophs with cell wall made of chitin. B. Heterotrophs with organ system level. C. Prokaryotes with wall of polysaccharides and amino acids. D. Eukaryotic autotrophs with tissue/organ level. E. Eukaryotes with cellular body organization.
Try the real previous-year questions from this chapter — each with the answer and a full solution.
Chitin and polysaccharides. Chitin is the major component. It is not made of cellulose.
Yes. Because chitin gives strength to the fungal wall just as cellulose does for plants, it is nicknamed 'fungal cellulose'.
It is a directly repeated fact. NEET 2016, and the 2025 kingdom-ordering question, all used 'chitin wall' as a key to identify Fungi. Wrong options always say fungi have a cellulosic wall.
Yes, chitin also forms the hard exoskeleton (outer covering) of insects such as cockroaches. The same nitrogen-containing polysaccharide builds both fungal walls and insect bodies.
No. Animals (Kingdom Animalia) have no cell wall. Only Fungi (chitin), Plantae (cellulose) and Monera (peptidoglycan) have cell walls.
