Lytic or Virulent Cycle

The major events involved in the lytic cycle of T -even phages are:
(1) Attachment of phage particle to the host.
(2) Adsorption of virus particle.
(3) Penetration into the host.
(4) Replication of viral nucleic acid.
(5) Protein synthesis.
(6) Assembly of new virions.
(7) Release of mature viruses
(1) Attachment to the host: Random collision brings the phage particles in contact with the bacterial cells. The
tail plate of the phage attaches to the surface of a susceptible host bacterium along with tail fibres. Specific
components of the protein capsid are known to be involved in the process of attachment of the virus to a specific
receptor sites of the host bacterial cell. In E.coli such sites are located in outer lipoprotein layer of
peptidoglycan layer.

During this process,

an attachment site on the virus attaches to a complementary
receptor site on the bacterial cell. This attachment is a chemical
interaction in which weak bonds are formed between the attachment
and receptor sites. T-even bacteriophages use fibers at the
end of the tail as attachment sites. The complementary receptor
sites are on the bacterial cell wall
(2) Adsorption: When the contact is made between tail fibres and bacterium, it
becomes unfolded from the tail. Unfolding and release of tail fibres from whiskers are
governed by certain co-factors for ego tryptophan is needed (1 mgl ml). The whole process
of interaction of phage to recognition of specific receptor site is known as landing (A)
After landing there starts the second process of adsorption which is known as pinning
(B). Before pinning the phage can move attached with tips of tail fibres to cell surface
until it finds the site for pinning of spikes. Pinning is the irreversible process. All the
activities before pining are reversible.
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After pinning the tail sheath contracts and therefore, appears shorter and thicker
(C). Sheath contracts by rearrangement of discs from 24 to 12. The phage uses its energy
in tail contraction as ATP. The activity of phage contraction is comparable to that of
microsyringe (D). The base plate through the centre enlarges after contraction of sheath.
After making the contact with a component of plasma membrane, unplugging of phage
DNA begins (E). Thereafter, DNA is injected into the cell without requiring metabolic
energy. (F) Phage head and tail remain outside the cell. Such empty protein coats are
known as 'ghosts'.
The adsorption of the virus particles is a specific process for which the presence
of some cations is necessary. Both cells and virus particles are negatively charged at
pH 7 and positive ions are therefore required as counter ions. The second stage involves
the interaction of virus particles with specific receptor most of w~ich appears to be
glycoproteins. The number of virus particles or infectious units adsorbed per cell is
referred to as the multiplicity of infection (moi). Animal cells are usually capable to
adsorbing very large amounts of virus, the number of receptors of most viruses ranges
from 100,000 - SOO,OOO/cells.
(3) Penetration into the host:
Adsorption is followed by penetration of nucleic acid
of the phage into the bacterial cell. Actually it is like an injection through a syringe.
The end plate and the tail fibres are held firmly against the bacterial cell. It causes
the hollow core of the phage tail to pierce through the bacterial cell wall and possibly
the plasma membrane. At this stage the contractile tail sheath functions like a muscle.
It derives the energy from ATP present in the tail of the phage. Through the hollow
core of the contracted tail the phage DNA is injected or penetrated into the body of
the bacterium. Lysozyme, present on the phage tail, may also facilitate the DNA

penetration by producing a hole on the bacterial wall. After the completion of the
penetration process. The empty head and the tail of the phage remain outside the
bacterium as the empty shell. Such empty shells are called ghosts.
(4) Replication of viral nucleic acids: Successful penetration of DNA will result
in the production of its many replicas. Enzyme are also involved in the replication of
nucleic acid. This replication in the double stranded DNA viruses occur in the nuclear
material of the host cell, so does the transcription. Replication process causes several
changes in the metabolism of the host cell.
(5) Protein synthesis: The phage nucleic acid, once inside the bacterial cell, takes
over the protein synthesis machinery of the cell. It suppresses the synthesis of bacterial
protein and directs the metabolism of the cell to synthesize the proteins of the phage
particle. This is accomplished by the synthesis of viral specific m-RNA. The replication
of phage DNA follows the semi conservative mechanism. Most of the phage DNA serves
as a template in its own synthesis and the rest is used as a template for the synthesis
of viral specific m-RNA. The later directs the host cell to synthesize proteins which are
used as a subunits (capsomeres) of the protein coat of the phage particle. These protein
are called late proteins as mentioned above. After the penetration of phage DNA some
enzyme are first synthesized. These enzymes are necessary for building complex
molecule peculiar to the phage, and represent early proteins. Subsequently, late proteins
appear, which include the protein subunits of head and tail of the bacteriophage.

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(6) Assembly of new virions: The DNA of phage and proteins of its head and
tail are synthesize separately in the bacterial cell. The phage DNA is condensed into
a compact polyhedron and packaged into the head. Finally the tail structures are added
and thus new virion is assembled. The process of assembly of different components
of the phage into the new mature virions is called 'maturation' process on 'morphogenesis
process'.
(7) Release of mature viruses: It is the final step of infection cycle. The entire
cycle of phage development is completed in 30-90 min. In an infected bacterium 78 phage particles are formed/minute and a total of about 200 phages are formed in
a bacterium. During the process of phage replication the bacterial cell wall is weakend.
It is facilitated by the enzyme lysozyme, secreted by the phage DNA in the host cell.
This enzyme causes the lysis or bursting of cell wall. Such a disintegration or lysis
of cell wall releases the mature daughter phages. These liberated phages may again
infect the bacterial cells.
Events of life cycle of