Q60: Bacteriophage attack of a starter culture involve a cycle of... - Microbiology of Processed Dairy Products, Starters, Probiotics & Standards - ICAR AIEEA PG Dairy Science 09 July 2023 (Shift 1) Paper | Agrigyan

Sequential stages of the viral lytic replication cycle:

• Adsorption (C): Phage tail fibers specifically recognize and bind to receptor proteins/polysaccharides on the bacterial cell wall (requires $Ca^{2+}$ ions).
• Injection (A): The phage sheath contracts, penetrating the cell wall and injecting viral DNA/RNA into the bacterial cytoplasm.
• Viral transcription and translation (D): Host cellular machinery is hijacked for phage mRNA transcription and synthesis of viral capsid proteins and replication enzymes.
• Packaging/Assembly (B): Newly synthesized viral genomes are packaged into capsids, and tails are attached to assemble complete virions prior to cell lysis.