define lytic cycle
Like many living things, viruses live to reproduce. They find a host cell, replicate themselves, and leave the host cell with all of their new copies. One method of reproducing and fleeing a cell is the lytic cycle. In a lytic cycle, the virus reproduces thousands to millions of times in just a few hours, then weakens the cell wall enough that the cell will lyse, or burst open, setting the army of new viruses free.