Use of bioluminescent Escherichia coli O157:H7 to study intra-protozoan survival of bacteria within Tetrahymena pyriformis.

A method was developed that enabled real-time monitoring of the uptake and survival of bioluminescent Escherichia coli O157 within the freshwater ciliate Tetrahymena pyriformis. Constitutively bioluminescent E. coli O157 pLITE27 was cocultured with T.