Question

Does a virus have a cell membrane?

Answer 1

Hint: Viruses are extremely smaller particles, composed of proteins and nucleic acid. The smallest viruses are nm in size, while the largest virus measures about nm. It is a tiny parasite, which is unable to reproduce itself. It always requires a host cell for growth and reproduction. Once it infects a host cell, it directs its cell machinery for replication, cell multiplication, and production of more viruses.

Complete answer
The virus is acellular, which means it does not possess a cellular structure. It is devoid of most components of cells like ribosomes, plasma membrane, and organelles.
Viruses do not have a cell membrane, but the enveloped viruses are an exception. They possess a cell membrane as they take the cell membrane of the cell, which they infect. Enveloped viruses possess a lipid membrane, which is derived from a host cell.
Viruses are not considered in any domain of classification as they are not alive. They lack plasma membrane, internal organelles, and metabolic processes, hence they do not divide.
They are devoid of membrane and possess capsid, which is surrounded by a lipid bilayer, containing viral proteins. The proteins enable the virus to bind to the susceptible cells and make them hosts. So, the virus envelope is the lipid and the protein covering only. Though the virus lacks a cell wall, the host cells interacting with the virus possess the cell walls.

Note:
The study of viruses is called virology, which is a branch of microbiology. Viruses possess either RNA or DNA as the genetic material. The nucleic acid can be single-stranded or double-stranded. The whole virus particle is called a virion, which is composed of nucleic acid and an outer shell of protein. Viruses can be crystallized for some time. The atomic structure of viruses can be visualized by X-ray crystallography.