Abstract
Previously, we constructed a genetically modified luciferase of Photinus pyralis that generates more than 10-fold higher luminescence intensity than the wild-type enzyme. In this study, we demonstrate that this modified luciferase enables us to detect ATP at 10−18 mol, which is almost equal to the quantity contained in a single bacterial cell. Consequently,we have been able to detect bacterial contamination in samples as low as one colony-forming unit (c.f.u.) for both Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported in part by the Special Coordination Funds from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan. We would like to thank all the staff of Bio-Microdevice Department for their helpful discussions and advice.
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Noda, K., Matsuno, T., Fujii, H. et al. Single bacterial cell detection using a mutant luciferase. Biotechnol Lett 30, 1051–1054 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-008-9643-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-008-9643-3