#lytic cycle

• Bacteriophage — A virus that infects and destroys exclusively bacterial cells, utilizing their genetic mechanisms to replicate. In a medical and biochemical context, bacteriophages (or phages) represent an extremely specific and ecological alternative to antibiotics, used in phage therapy to combat drug-resistant superbugs.
• Bacteriophagy — A biological phenomenon consisting of the destruction, lysis, or phagocytosis of bacteria by specific viruses (bacteriophages) or by cells endowed with macrophage capacities. In a narrow sense, the process describes the dynamics of the lytic cycle in which entire bacterial populations are rapidly reduced under viral infection, playing a crucial role in the ecological regulation of microbial biomass.