Strengths and weaknesses in the determination of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell viability by ATP-based bioluminescence assay

► Setup of ATP-based bioluminescence assay for S. cerevisiae cells. ► Metabolic shift misleads microbial mass evaluation by ATP-assay. ► ATP-based bioluminescence assay as a tool to identify Saccharomyces cerevisiae subpopulations. ► ATP detection to study yeast physiology in fed-batch reactor.