lambda bacteriophage

lambda bacteriophage

[′lam·də bak¦tir·ē·ə‚fāj] (microbiology) A temperate phage that infects Escherichia coli and then undergoes one of two life cycles: (1) lytic, in which it infects the host cell, replicates, and causes the cell to lyse (burst) as new phage progeny emerge; or (2) lysogenic, in which it infects the bacterial host cell, integrates its deoxyribonucleic acid into the host's genome, and goes into a dormant phase during which it replicates along with the host chromosome until it is induced to undergo lytic growth.