Addition of glucose enables determination of luciferase activity in carbon-starved, stationary phase Lactococcus lactis cells.

Abstract We describe a simple method for measuring luciferase activity in the stationary phase of Lactococcus lactis . Due to large fluctuations in the energy and redox pools of stationary phase bacterial cells, measurement of luciferase activities does not yield reliable results. Upon addition of relatively small amounts of glucose, the pools are restored and measurement of luciferase becomes possible. Since luciferase activities are easily measured, our method allows to apply this simple analytical tool in stationary phase cells.