Lysis is the disruption or breakdown of a cell membrane or cell wall, resulting in the release of the cell's intracellular contents — including proteins, nucleic acids, viral particles, and other biological molecules — into the surrounding medium. In biopharmaceutical manufacturing, lysis is employed as a deliberate processing step to recover intracellular products such as plasmid DNA (pDNA), recombinant proteins, or viral vectors produced within host cells. Lysis methods include mechanical (e.g., microfluidization, high-pressure homogenization), chemical (e.g., detergent-based), and enzymatic approaches, each selected based on the product type, scale, and downstream purification requirements.
