9. Glossary

Elements for measuring pollution from washing wastes

LATPmetry

This is a molecular biology technique that enables the total number of microorganisms present in a sample to be counted. It is one of a number of molecular biology techniques based on bioluminescence, and provides an overall measure of the quantity of ATP present in the sample, and therefore of the number of microorganisms present, since ATP is the main source of energy for all living cells, at practically identical levels from one bacterium to another.

To perform the analysis, the sample must be collected, filtered and the bacteria lysed for ATP.

The analysis gives an overall value for the number of bacteria present in the sample, but cannot identify contaminants.

This technique is used to check the cleanliness...