Question

Describe the lytic phase of bacteriophage.

Answer 1

Bacteriophage:

1. A bacteriophage is a kind of virus that infects bacteria.
2. It has two phases in its lifecycle which are lysogenic phase and lytic phase.

Lytic phase:

1. The lytic cycle consists of six stages.
2. The phage gets attached to the surface of the host cell at the initial step of attachment in order to inject its DNA into the host.
3. The phage injects its DNA into the host cell during the second step of penetration.
4. Transcription, the third stage, results in the death of the host cell and the start of phage biosynthesis.
5. In the fourth stage, known as biosynthesis, DNA replicates within the cell to produce fresh phage DNA and proteins.
6. Maturation, the fifth stage, is when the duplicated material comes together to produce fully formed viral phages, which are made up of head, tail, and tail fibers.
7. In the last stage which is lysis, the newly formed phages are released from the infected cell which inturn infects the new host cells.