Lysogenies

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The processes through which a bacteriophage integrates its genetic material into the host bacterium's genome
2. The state in which a bacterial cell harbors the viral DNA, allowing it to replicate with the host's DNA
3. A form of genetic incorporation that can lead to the activation of viral activity under certain conditions

Etymology: "Lysogenies" is the plural of "lysogeny", so it is simply the form used when more than one case of the phenomenon is meant. The noun is built from "lyso-", a combining form from Greek "lysis" meaning loosening or dissolution, and "-geny", from Greek "-genēs" and "genos" meaning birth or origin, as in "genesis" and "gene". Read together, the parts point to something that is born or generated out of a loosening, which is a fair description of the process: a virus that has been incorporated into a host's genome, and that may later be triggered to break out and destroy the cell.