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Lytic and Lysogeny-Explaination/Animation(3D)

The lytic cycle is one of the two cycles of viral reproduction, the other being the lysogenic cycle. The lytic cycle results in the destruction of the infected cell and its membrane. A key difference between the lytic and lysogenic phage cycles is that in the lytic phage, the viral DNA exists as a separate molecule within the bacterial cell, and replicates separately from the host bacterial DNA. The location of viral DNA in the lysogenic phage cycle is within the host DNA, therefore in both cases the virus/phage replicates using the host DNA machinery, but in the lytic phage cycle, the phage is a free floating separate molecule to the host DNA.



Lysogenic cycle

Lysogenic cycle, compared to lytic cycle
Lysogeny, or the lysogenic cycle, is one of two methods of viral reproduction (the lytic cycle is the other). Lysogeny is characterized by integration of the bacteriophage nucleic acid into the host bacterium's genome or formation of a circular replicon in the bacterium's cytoplasm. In this condition the bacterium continues to live and reproduce normally. The genetic material of the bacteriophage, called a prophage, can be transmitted to daughter cells at each subsequent cell division, and a later event (such as UV radiation or the presence of certain chemicals) can release it, causing proliferation of new phages via the lytic cycle. Lysogenic cycles can also occur in eukaryotes, although the method of DNA incorporation is not fully understood.

The distinction between lysogenic and lytic cycles is that the spread of the viral DNA occurs through the usual prokaryotic reproduction, while the lytic phage is spread through the production of thousands of individual phages capable of surviving and infecting other cells. The key difference between the lytic cycle and the lysogenic cycle is that the lysogenic cycle does not lyse the host cell. Phages that replicate only via the lytic cycle are known as virulent phages while phages that replicate using both lytic and lysogenic cycles are known as temperate phages.

In the lysogenic cycle, the phage DNA first integrates into the bacterial chromosome to produce the prophage. When the bacterium reproduces, the prophage is also copied and is present in each of the daughter cells. The daughter cells can continue to replicate with the prophage present or the prophage can exit the bacterial chromosome to initiate the lytic cycle.