🔬 Lytic Cycle

Discussion

<p>To some degree the term "lytic cycle" is a misnomer if the term is used to describe a phage life cycle that also involves a lysogenic infection, that is, adsorption → lysogenization → lysogenic infection → induction → lytic infection → release → adsorption. In other words, this is a description of a life cycle that involves a lytic infection but strictly is not a "lytic cycle" as equivalent to the actual cycle that is seen with immediately lytic cycles (i.e., as recounted in the previous paragraph). The use of the "lytic cycle" with this "induced lytic cycle" meaning, however, is thoroughly entrenched within the literature so should not be modified except, as appropriate, with the qualification of whether by lytic cycle one is referring to one that follows induction or instead which immediately follows adsorption.

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