Question

Viruses that infect bacteria and cause their lysis, are called as

• A. Lysozymes
• B. Lipolytic
• C. Lytic
• D. Lysogenic

Answer 1

Answer: (C)

Lytic

Viruses are intracellular obligately parasitic, self-replicating, non-cellular, sub-microscopic organisms. It infects a bacterial cell and causes its lysis by first attaching to the bacterial cell wall by its tail. The tail fibers fix the base plate to the specific receptor site on the bacterial cell wall, and the tail sheath contracts like a syringe, forcing the DNA that is inside the virus through the cell wall and cell membrane. The entire virus protein coat remains outside the bacterium. The injected nucleic acid is the viral genetic material, it makes use of the host cell chemical energy and biosynthetic machinery to produce viral enzymes, as well as more phage nucleic acid. The viral proteins and nucleic acid molecules within the bacterial host assemble spontaneously into up to a hundred new phage particles. Eventually, the bacterium lyses, releasing the particles.

So, the correct answer is option C.