Bacteriophages also have another type of life cycle. It is called the lytic cycle, the purpose of this life cycle is to rapidly replicate, lyse the cell, then package it’s DNA to go to a bacteria and infect another one. The lytic cycle has the bacteriophage replicate it’s DNA rapidly while making packaging for that DNA. The packaging includes the head and tail of the bacteriophage, this will keep the DNA safe until it gets to the next bacteria that it will infect. It also has to package it in a way that the bacteriophage will be able to insert its DNA into the next bacterial cell that it infects. This is a very interesting process. The goal of this process is to make as many bacteriophages as possible, this will allow the bacteriophages to leave the host cell and infect a bunch of other host cells. There are many proteins that the bacteriophage carry with them to make packaging for their DNA. And like in the lysogenic life cycle some bacteriophage use the host proteins to create their own packaging. Bacteriophages really are interesting, they infect bacteria which can infect us. There are viruses for everything, they can infect everything in life. The only thing that can’t be infected by a virus is a virus itself, and that is only because they can’t replicate on their own.
Recent comments