Prof. Avigdor Elder

The image illustrates the complex interactions described in your summary, and shows the complex choices that bacteriophages make between aggression and dormancy within their bacterial hosts, which are influenced by environmental cues and the health of the host. This represents the sophisticated mechanisms at work in bacterial and viral interactions as revealed by the study. Credit: The Science website via DALEE

How do viruses decide whether to stay friendly?

This is how the decision-making mechanism of viruses works