“ATP-metry is a molecular biology technique, based on the principle of bioluminescence,
which allows measuring a quantity of ATP in a sample”
Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is the major intermediary energy required in most of cellular metabolism reactions. ATP is a cellular metabolism product synthesized in specific organelles called mitochondria in eukaryotes and prokaryotes when at the level of the cell membrane (ATP synthase).
Every living cell produces and consumes ATP. This coenzyme is specific of living environments; it is assumed that all traces of ATP are the witness of a trace of life.
In water, quantify ATP returns to quantify total microorganisms (or total biomass). To perform this type of assay, we will measure the light emitted by the enzymatic reaction by bioluminescence using luciferin and firefly luciferase:
ATP, in the presence of a luciferin/luciferase complex and a catalyst, releases energy in the form of light.
Measuring the amount of light emitted using a luminometer; we deduce the quantity of ATP. The measurement method by ATP-metry is a field test whose result is obtained in few minutes.