Adenosine triphosphate test system

The ATP test is a bioluminescence procedure based on the reaction between adenosine-5-triphosphate (ATP) and a luciferin-luciferase enzymatic system (42, 43). The principle of the test relies on the fact that after a certain incubation period the intracellular ATP level, which gives a reliable indication of the state of development of a suitable bacterial culture (44), will remain low relative to a control, when antimicrobial residues are present. In its first version the ATP test employed Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633 as the test organism, but a current version is based on the use of Streptococcus thermophilus T.J. culture. 

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