A rapid permeabilization procedure for accurate quantitative determination of beta-galactosidase activity in yeast cells.

A procedure is described which allows the rapid permeabilization of yeast cells, Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, for quantitative in situ assays of beta-galactosidase activity. Yeast cells are permeabilized by incubation in buffer containing 0.2% of the detergent sodium lauroyl sarcosinate without any need for washing or vortexing. This procedure is equally applicable to fresh and frozen samples. It is compared to earlier reported methods and found to be superior by being more accurate and less time-consuming.