Luminescence as a Continuous Real-Time Reporter of Promoter Activity in Yeast Undergoing Respiratory Oscillations or Cell Division Rhythms

This chapter describes a method for generating yeast respiratory oscillations in continuous culture and monitoring rhythmic promoter activity of the culture by automated real-time recording of luminescence. These techniques chiefly require the use of a strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae that has been genetically modified to express firefly luciferase under the control of a promoter of interest and a continuous culture bioreactor that incorporates a photomultiplier apparatus for detecting light emission. Additionally, this chapter describes a method for observing rhythmic (cell cycle-related) promoter activity in small batch cultures of yeast through luminescence monitoring.