Final answer:
The process in which bacteriophages confer new traits to bacteria, potentially enhancing disease in humans, is called lysogenic conversion. This process is part of the lysogenic cycle, which involves the integration of phage DNA into the host bacterium's genome.
Step-by-step explanation:
The process by which bacteriophages infect bacteria, conferring new traits that enhance human disease, is called lysogenic conversion. During this process, a bacteriophage integrates its genetic material into the bacterial chromosome, which can lead to a change in the host bacterium's phenotype, such as an increase in virulence due to the expression of toxin genes carried by the phage. This alteration is also known as phage conversion, and it is a part of the broader lysogenic cycle, where the bacterium replicates its chromosome along with the phage DNA, transmitting it to new bacterial cells.
In contrast, transduction refers to the transfer of genetic information from one bacterium to another via a phage, and latency refers to a viral infection where the virus remains dormant for a period before reactivating. The term lysogenic describes the integration and maintenance of phage DNA within the bacterial host, which can later enter a lytic cycle upon exposure to certain environmental stressors, leading to the production of new visions and the death of the host cell.