Biology: viruses: lysogenic vs lytic

Tutoring biology, viruses come up. The tutor mentions the two common life cycles they have.

In broad strokes, the lysogenic cycle is one that involves a waiting period that can last for generations. The lytic cycle, on the other hand, manifests itself immmediately.

In either case, when a virus attacks a cell, it injects its DNA (or RNA, potentially) therein. In the lysogenic case, the virus’s DNA joins the host cell’s, whence it gets passed down to future generations. Then, some trigger causes it to enter the lytic stage: it breaks free from the host’s DNA and begins replicating new viruses, which get so numerous inside the host cell it bursts.

The lytic cycle skips the phase where the viral DNA joins the host cell’s. Rather, in the lytic scenario, the viral DNA starts replicating viruses directly after its arrival in the host cell.

This account leaves out a few details, but gives the ideas of lysogenic vs lytic virus cycles.

Source:

bio.libretexts.org