One hypothesis that has been proposed to explain the development of viruses suggests that viruses were beneficial because they allowed for rapid gene transfer, especially in prokaryotic cells, and therefore increased genetic diversity. Temperate viruses could have increased horizontal gene transfer between prokaryotic cells and potentially increased their fitness. With respect to this hypothesis, why would it matter whether the bacteriophages were temperate or virulent? View Available Hint(s)

Bacteriophages may be defined as the viruses that has the ability to affect the bacterial cell. The bacteriophages are used to study the specific behavior of the bacteria as well as viruses.

Two main types of phages are temperature phage and virulent phage. The virulent phage undergoes the lytic cycle and kill their host immediately. The temperate phage can perform both the lytic and lysogenic cycle. The temperate phage can be used to study both the effect of the virus as well as bacteria and most commonly used in the researches.