The lytic and lysogenic cycles are the two main phases of a virus’ infective lifecycle and route to replication. The lytic cycle, or virulent infection, involves a virus taking control of a host cell ...

Bacteriophages are a special type of virus that infect bacteria and have amazing structural and functional diversity. When a bacteriophage infects a bacterium, it can hijack the molecular machinery of ...

Unlike lytic phages, temperate phages that enter lysogeny maintain a long-term association with their bacterial host. In this context, mutually beneficial interactions can evolve that support ...