28.(10 points) You are conducting bioluminescence testing in a food plant, in wh

Question

28.(10 points) You are conducting bioluminescence testing in a food plant, in which you swab surfaces, dip the swab into an enzyme solution, and see how much light is emitted (if any). Which molecule are you detecting? Why are you looking for this molecule (what does it mean if you detect it)? What is one downside to this method?
28.(10 points) You are conducting bioluminescence testing in a food plant, in which you swab surfaces, dip the swab into an enzyme solution, and see how much light is emitted (if any). Which molecule are you detecting? Why are you looking for this molecule (what does it mean if you detect it)? What is one downside to this method?
28.(10 points) You are conducting bioluminescence testing in a food plant, in which you swab surfaces, dip the swab into an enzyme solution, and see how much light is emitted (if any). Which molecule are you detecting? Why are you looking for this molecule (what does it mean if you detect it)? What is one downside to this method?

Explanation / Answer

Intracellular ATP molecules are detected in bioluminescence test . ATP is used as the biological marker of bioluminescent reaction to detect the light producing microorganisms like bacteria, beetles, marine microorganisms, yeasts, molds, spores etc.

The bioluminescence testing is a rapid and reliable detection method for the quantification of living cells. The level of contamination can be detected and assessed by surface swabbing, ATP extraction and by bioluminescent assay. It has advantages over the traditional methods of culturing the microbes for long incubation period, in plates and detecting them. The test utilizes the principle of luciferine oxidation by luciferase and the light intensity directly proportional to the amount of ATP present. Thus presence of light indicates the presence of microbial attack or spoilage of the food.

D-luciferin + luciferase + ATP (in presence of Mg2+) gives Oxyluciferin + AMP + CO2 + light.

The downside to this method is that the luminescence from food, rather than from microbes, can give a false result of ATP contents. Since ATP level is very low in spores, this method is not very sensitive for spore detection.

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