In vivo bioluminescence: a cellular reporter for research and industry.

The detection of specific bacterial pathogens, indicator microorganisms and antimicrobial substances, and the recovery of microorganisms from sub-lethal injury, are all aspects of importance to industry which are currently being targeted using in vivo bioluminescence. In all instances, a key requirement for the application of bioluminescence is the establishment of a strict correlation between in vivo bioluminescence and cell viability, as determined by colony counting on agar plates. Comparative studies for biocides (phenol, chlorhexidine diacetate, phenol thioether), for a virucide (hypochlorite) and for cellular recovery of S. typhimurium from sub-lethal injury, all indicate that such a correlation is valid. Furthermore, real-time measurements of in vivo bioluminescence reveal a major population of bacterial cells that retain functional intracellular biochemistry, but are defective in their ability to replicate post of freeze injury.