∞ generated and posted on 2016.02.28 ∞
Productive bacteriophage infection that ends with lethal puncture of the infected bacterium's cell envelope.
Often the concept of lytic cycle is contrasted with that of lysogenic cycle, where with the lytic cycle phage virions are produced whereas with the lysogenic cycle phage virions are not produced. In addition, and importantly, temperate phages are capable of displaying both lytic cycles and lysogenic cycles, though not both simultaneously.
The term "virulent" is often used to describe phage that are unable to display lysogenic cycles, though the contrast between virulent phages and temperate phages actually can be problematic both historically and in terms of actual phage properties. See too the terms lytic cycle and lytic phage.