The nomenclature used when referring to transduction is fairly simple. Bacteriophages that are capable of performing transduction are called transducing phages. The original bacterial strain in which the phage obtains the new DNA is called the donor strain. The infected strain is the recipient strain. When a cell receives DNA from another bacterium via transduction, it is referred to as the transductant.
Bacteriophages have two different developmental cycles, the lytic cycle and the lysogenic cycle.
The lytic cycle is a series of events that follow the infection of a bacteriophage, which ends in the lysis of the bacterial cell and the release of new phage into the environment. The lysogenic cycle is a series of events following a bacteriophage infection that results in the formation of a stable prophage. The lytic cycle follows a series of steps. The steps are listed below. The bacteriophage attaches to the bacterial cell.