Definition

Verb (transitive): To integrate a viral genome (prophage) into the DNA of a bacterial host cell, establishing a state of lysogeny where the viral genetic material replicates along with the host cell without causing immediate lysis.

Usage

The verb "lysogenize" is used specifically in microbiology and virology to describe the process by which a temperate bacteriophage infects a bacterium. The action is performed by the virus upon the bacterium. The resulting bacterium is described as "lysogenized."

Examples

• The temperate phage can lysogenize the bacterial cell, allowing it to replicate passively for many generations.
• Researchers observed the virus attempting to lysogenize the host rather than immediately destroying it.
• Not all infected cells become lysogenized; some enter the lytic cycle immediately.

Advanced Usage

• Lysogenized (adjective/past participle): Used to describe the state of the bacterium.
  • The lysogenized bacteria exhibited immunity to infection by similar phages.
• The process itself is lysogenization (noun).
  • The study focused on the molecular mechanisms of lysogenization.

Variants and Related Words

• Lysogenise: British English spelling variant.
• Lysogeny (noun): The biological state where the viral genome is integrated into the host bacterium.
• Lysogenic (adjective): Relating to or characterized by lysogeny (e.g., a lysogenic cycle, a lysogenic bacterium).
• Prophage (noun): The integrated, dormant form of the phage genome within the bacterial DNA.

Synonyms

• Integrate (in this specific virological context)
• Establish lysogeny (verb phrase)

Antonyms

• Lytic (adjective): Referring to the cycle that results in host cell destruction.
• Lysogenize is conceptually opposed to lyse or enter the lytic cycle, which describe the destruction of the host cell.

Verb

1. become integrated into the genome of (a bacterium)