Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40732145›Full record

ArticleMicroorganisms2025

Disruptive DNA Intercalation Is the Mode of Interaction Behind Niacinamide Antimicrobial Activity.

Michal Rasis, Noa Ziklo, Paul Salama

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Microorganisms, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. RNA Polymerase 1 inhibitors against African trypanosomesAntimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2026
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Michal RasisInnovation Department, Sharon Personal Care Ltd., Eli Horovitz St. 4, Rehovot 7608810, Israel.
Noa ZikloInnovation Department, Sharon Personal Care Ltd., Eli Horovitz St. 4, Rehovot 7608810, Israel.ORCID 0009-0003-3149-6942
Paul SalamaInnovation Department, Sharon Personal Care Ltd., Eli Horovitz St. 4, Rehovot 7608810, Israel.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Niacinamide was recently shown to directly interact with bacterial DNA and interfere with cell replication; niacinamide mode of interaction and efficacy as a natural anti-microbial molecule were also described. The aim of this study is to elucidate the exact binding mechanism of niacinamide to microbial DNA. Intercalation is a binding mode where a small planar molecule, such as niacinamide, is inserted between base pairs, causing structural changes in the DNA. Melting curve analysis with various intercalating dyes demonstrated that niacinamide interaction with bacterial DNA reduces its melting temperature in a linear dose-dependent manner. Niacinamide's effect on the melting temperature was found to be % GC-dependent, while purine stretches were also found to influence the binding kinetics. Finally, fluorescent intercalator displacement (FID) assays demonstrated that niacinamide strongly reduces SYBR Safe signal in a dose-dependent manner. Interestingly, competition assays with a minor groove binder also reduced Hoechst signal but in a non-linear manner, which can be attributed to strand lengthening and unwinding following niacinamide intercalation. Taken altogether; our results suggest a "disruptive intercalation" as the mode of interaction of niacinamide with bacterial DNA. Formation of locally destabilized DNA portions by niacinamide might interfere with protein-DNA interaction and potentially affect several crucial bacterial cellular processes, e.g., DNA repair and replication, subsequently leading to cell death.

Indexed as

antimicrobialDNA interactionintercalationniacinamide

Identifiers

PMID40732145
PMCPMC12298274

What Socratic holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.