What is freeze-dried Luminase?
Luminase is manufactured using a process called freeze-drying. This maximizes enzyme stability prior to use. Before using this product, it must first be rehydrated by mixing the rehydration liquid buffer into the freeze-dried powder. Mix GENTLY to help facilitate dissolution of the enzyme pellet and then allow it to dissolve for at least 5 minutes at room temperature. Take care to avoid contamination when removing the glass vial stopper.
Rehydrated (Liquid) enzyme
How should I store Luminase (both in freeze-dried and liquid format)?
Freeze-dried storage: When you receive your shipment with enzyme, the freeze-dried Luminase can be stored in the refrigerator or freezer for best long-term storage.
Rehydrated (Liquid) enzyme: For best results, store rehydrated Luminase in the fridge or freezer between use. Always allow it to come to room temperature naturally before use. When stored frozen between uses, your Luminase should be good for 3-6 months from the date prepared. When refrigerated in between use, 2-4 weeks is the typical useful life.
You can freeze/thaw luminase as often as required. For the longest possible lifespan however, only thaw bottles of Luminase as required for sample analysis. Store Luminase in the fridge whenever possible to extend the lifespan.
Warning: do not use a heating element, incubator, oven, flame or water bath to warm up cold or frozen Luminase prior to use. The rehydrated Luciferase enzyme is very sensitive to high temperatures. Even brief exposure to temperatures above 40C (105 F) can cause rapid and permanent activity loss. It's best to allow the Luminase to warm up naturally in the ambient environment prior to use. Generally, 1 hour at room temperature is sufficient for this. You may warm the enzyme in your hands using body heat to help speed up the transition from frozen to liquid.
Luminase should be disposed as normal waste. Consult the SDS for Luminase for additional information.
Luminase Enzyme and Buffer
How do I know when my Luminase is below its optimum sensitivity and I should start using a new bottle?
In general, the UltraCheck calibration values obtained for the various formulations of Luminase should be greater than or equal to the following:
Luminase: >5,000 RLU
Luminase XL: >50,000 RLU
Luminase W: >500 RLU
What is the difference between Luminase, LuminaseXL, LuminaseW and LuminaseLite Enzyme?
All of these reagents are of the Luminase family of reagents but they differ only in activity levels and are customized to function with the methods for which they are specified. In some cases, it may be possible to substitute more active for less active formulations to provide additional sensitivity. Contact Technical Support for details.
- Normal Luminase (Orange Label) = baseline regular Luminase used in most kits for a wide range of contamination levels (QGA, DSA, QGOM, QG21I).
- LuminaseW (Brown Label) = has 1/10 the activity of regular Luminase for highly active or contaminated samples. It's used only in the Wastewater test kit (ex. QG21W).
- Luminase Lite Enzyme (Green label) = roughly 1/5 the activity of regular Luminase. Used for AccuLight Basic test kit.
- LuminaseXL (Blue label) = roughly 10x the activity of regular Luminase. Used in any XL test method for samples with low levels of microbial growth (ex. QGA-XL, DSA-XL, QG21S, QGOM-XLPD).
The activity loss of Luminase is essentially linear from whatever the starting activity of the reagent happens to be. For example, if your starting UltraCheck 1 calibration for Luminase is 15,000 RLU and it drops to 5,000 after 4 months, you would see similar magnitudes in reduction for LuminaseW (1,500 to 500), AccuLight Enzyme (3,000 to 1,000), and LuminaseXL (150,000 to 50,000 RLU) over the same period.