Table 1.

Proposed properties of phage infection strategies.

phage infection strategya,b								detection methods
	single-cell level						population level
property	lytic infection	productive, chronic infection	non-productive, chronic infection	lysogeny, integrated prophage	lysogeny, non-integrated prophage	pseudolysogeny	carrier state infection
production of viral particles	+	+	+d	−	−	−	+	plaque assay; analysis of the presence of particles; imaging
progeny release by cell lysis	+	−	−	−	−	−	+	one-step growth assay; imaging
progeny release by budding or extrusion	−	+	−	−	−	−	+	one-step growth assay; imaging
no progeny release	−	−	+	+	+	+	−	plaque assay from the supernatant (lack of particles in the supernatant)
episome	−	±c	+	−	+	+	−	sequencing
genome integration	−	±c	−	+	−	−	−	Southern blot of electrophoresis-separated cellular DNAs; sequencing
inducible	−	±	n.d.	+	+	−	−	physical or chemical induction
asymmetric division of the episomes	−	−	−	−	−	+	−	single-cell PCR; single-cell imaging
mix of sensitive and resistant bacteria	−	−	−	−	−	−	+	analysis of viral sensitivity

^aPlus sign indicates the possible presence of the infection property in the phage life cycle strategy, whereas minus sign indicates the lack of that specific attribute.

^bSuperinfection exclusion can be a property of any of the phage infection strategies (not necessarily in all cells of the infected population).

^cPhages displaying productive, chronic infection either replicate episomally or integrate into the host genome.

^dIn non-productive, chronic infection progeny phage particles are produced within the host cell without lysis.