FIG. 2.

M. smegmatis is capable of expressing the Gluc bioluminescence reporter gene, and the luminescence reaction that it catalyzes is a flash reaction. The luminescence is shown for a culture of M. smegmatis pSHKGluc1 (OD₆₀₀, 0.5) after addition of 10 μmol liter⁻¹ coelenterazine (•). The luminescence of a comparable culture of M. smegmatis without the Gluc gene, demonstrating the background chemiluminescent signal of the coelenterazine substrate when it was incubated with bacterial cells, is also shown (○). The error bars indicate standard deviations.