Infection of a bacterium by a bacteriophage with subsequent production of more phage particles and lysis, or dissolution, of the cell. The viruses responsible are commonly called virulent phages. Lytic infection is one of the two major bacteriophage–bacterium relationships.
Lysogeny, or the lysogenic cycle, is one of two cycles of viral reproduction. Lysogeny is characterized by integration of the bacteriophage nucleic acid into the host bacterium's genome or formation of a circular replicon in the bacterial cytoplasm.
