instead of containing only the "luxa" and "luxb" genes, bioreporters can contain all five genes of the "lux" cassette, thereby allowing for a completely independent light generating system that requires no extraneous additions of substrate nor any excitation by an external light source. so in this bioassay, the bioreporter is simply exposed to a target analyte and a quantitative increase in bioluminescence results, often within less than one hour. due to their rapidity and ease of use, along with the ability to perform the bioassay repetitively in real time and on-line, makes "luxcdabe" bioreporters extremely attractive. consequently, they have been incorporated into a diverse array of detection methodologies ranging from the sensing of environmental contaminants to the real-time monitoring of pathogen infections in living mice.