What stages of replication do both cycles have in common? Describe the virion action at each of these stages.

Attachment, Penetration and Replication

Explanation:

A bacteriophage is a virus that attacks bacterial cells. The lytic and lysogenic cycles are two methods of viral replication. In the lytic cycle, the virions produced are released from the host cell whereas in the lysogenic cycle, viral nucleic material are incorporated into host nucleic material and are copied to daughter cells when the host cell reproduces. The common steps in both cycles are given below:

1  Attachment – in this step, the bacteriophage attaches itself to the surface of the host cell so as to insert its DNA into the host cell.

2. Penetration – the virus inserts its DNA into the host cell by penetrating the cell membrane of the host cell.

3. Replication – the viral nucleic material is replicated using the host cell's replication mechanism.