Question

In a lysogenic infection, how can one virus infect many cells?

Answer 1

Okay, so we're talking about the LYSOGENIC cycle, of viruses.

The LYSOGENIC cycle is where a virus invades a cell,
and then the virus takes its genetic material,
and combines it with the genetic material of the cell.

In other words,
the virus invades our bodies,
and it combines its genes with our own genes.

You know that cells divide, right?
We call it "mitosis."

Well, before cells divide,
they have to first copy their own genetic material.

If a cell has been infected by the genes of a virus,
those genes will get copied, before the cell divides.

And so,
AFTER the infected cell divides,
what we get, in the end, is two cells, that BOTH have the virus's genes.

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So, let's go through this again, one more time:

1. A virus infects a cell.

2. The virus combines its genes with the cell's genes.

3. The cell divides into two cells.

4. BOTH cells now have the virus's genes,
because the genes were COPIED, before the cell divided.

Answer 2

http://faculty.ccbcmd.edu/courses/bio141/lecguide/unit3/viruses/lysolc.html