A practical method for measuring acid-soluble and total (acid- and alkaline-soluble) carnitine growth activity for a carnitine-specific mutant of the enteric yeast Torulopsis bovina in biological fluids and tissues is described. It grows at 37-degrees-C in a simple, cheap, chemically defined medium; its response threshold to carnitine is 100 pg ml-1. Growth is measured as absorbance units with any turbidometer. Carnitine contents in human and rat fluids and tissues so measured accord with those obtained after multi-step extraction methods, enzyme procedures or radiochemical procedures.