incompatible type error

can anyone tell me what this means? this is whats on the line the errors being called.char fastaStart = ">";
[132 byte] By [candybar1a] at [2007-11-26 15:05:08]
# 1
">" is a String, not a char.'>' is a char
jverda at 2007-7-8 8:54:54 > top of Java-index,Java Essentials,Java Programming...