Immune & Antimicrobial

Nisin

Nisin has been in the food supply for decades — a preservative made by the bacteria that ferment dairy, carrying generally-recognised-as-safe status — which gives it a record of human exposure no experimental antibiotic can match. It earns the job honestly: it seizes lipid II, the building block Gram-positive bacteria must have to build a cell wall, and it still inhibits methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) taken from infected joint replacements at 4 to 8 micrograms per millilitre. A food-additive safety record is not evidence that something treats an infection. The clearest infection result on file is in dairy cows with mastitis, where nisin infused into the udder cured 90% of cases against 91% for the antibiotic gentamicin; no human infection trial exists on file.

Last updated 12 August 2026

Studied forGram-positive antibacterial research · Food preservation use · Oral microbiome research

Evidence on file1 in-vitro study · 1 citation not yet graded

Strongest sourceSpecific Binding of Nisin to the Peptidoglycan Precursor Lipid II Combines Pore Formation and Inhibition of C… (in-vitro study)

Mechanism

Binds the cell-wall precursor lipid II, blocking peptidoglycan synthesis and assembling transmembrane pores in Gram-positive bacteria.

Reported effects

What sources associate with this compound. Reported categories, not outcomes we have graded — each would need its own citation and rung.

Gram-positive antibacterial research
Food preservation use
Oral microbiome research

Dosing on file unverified

Oral nisin (NCT06097468); No established dose

Carried from a source that labels it unverified, and reproduced with that label attached. A record of what is reported, not a recommendation. No citation on this page establishes it.

Literature on file 3

review or editorial
Applications of the bacteriocin, nisin (Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 1996, cited 768x) graded on: indexed as "Review" - secondary literature, not a study — “Review”
in vitro
Specific Binding of Nisin to the Peptidoglycan Precursor Lipid II Combines Pore Formation and Inhibition of Cell Wall Biosynthesis for Potent Antibiotic Activity (Journal of Biological Chemistry 2001, cited 657x) graded on: an in-vitro system — read from the indexed abstract — “assay”

Not graded

1 citation whose study design could not be read from the title. Left ungraded rather than guessed at.

not graded
NCT06097468: A Phase I/IIa, Single-Arm, Dose-Confirmation and Dose-Expansion Study Evaluating Changes in the Oral Microbiome of Patients With Oral Cavity Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) After Short-Term Ingestion of Nisin, a Naturally Occurring Food Preservative graded on: NCT06097468 is recruiting and has posted no results - a registration, not a reported outcome — “NCT06097468”

Identity

Space-filling 3D model of Nisin, carbon grey, nitrogen blue, oxygen red — Built from the SMILES on this record — the atoms and bonds are exact. The shape is **one computed low-energy pose**, not a measured structure: a flexible peptide in solution has no single conformation, and where the SMILES leaves a stereocentre undefined the pose commits to one arbitrarily. The skeletal formula below claims connectivity and nothing more, which is what we actually know.

2D chemical structure of Nisin — Built from the SMILES on this record — the atoms and bonds are exact. The shape is **one computed low-energy pose**, not a measured structure: a flexible peptide in solution has no single conformation, and where the SMILES leaves a stereocentre undefined the pose commits to one arbitrarily. The skeletal formula below claims connectivity and nothing more, which is what we actually know.

Molecular weight: 3354.1
Molecular formula: C143H230N42O37S7
CAS number: 1414-45-5
PubChem CID: 16129667
InChI key: NVNLLIYOARQCIX-GSJOZIGCSA-N
SMILES: CCC(C)C1C(=O)NC(=C)C(=O)NC(C(=O)NC(CSCC(C(=O)N1)NC(=O)/C(=C/C)/NC(=O)C(C(C)CC)N)C(=O)NC2C(SCC(NC(=O)CNC(=O)C3CCCN3C2=O)C(=O)NC(CCCCN)C(=O)NC4C(SCC(NC(=O)CNC(=O)C(NC(=O)C(NC(=O)C(NC(=O)CNC4=O)C)CC(C)C)CCSC)C(=O)NC(CC(=O)N)C(=O)NC(CCSC)C(=O)NC(CCCCN)C(=O)NC5C(SCC6C(=O)NC(C(=O)NC(CSC(C(C(=O)N6)NC(=O)C(NC5=O)C)C)C(=O)NC(CO)C(=O)NC(C(C)CC)C(=O)NC(CC7=CN=CN7)C(=O)NC(C(C)C)C(=O)NC(=C)C(=O)NC(CCCCN)C(=O)O)CC8=CN=CN8)C)C)C)CC(C)C
InChI: InChI=1S/C143H230N42O37S7/c1-24-69(11)105(148)135(213)162-82(27-4)118(196)174-94-58-225-59-95(175-123(201)89(48-67(7)8)169-115(193)74(16)158-138(216)107(70(12)25-2)180-132(94)210)133(211)184-112-79(21)229-61-96(160-104(190)56-152-134(212)100-38-34-44-185(100)142(112)220)128(206)164-84(36-29-32-42-145)120(198)182-109-76(18)226-60-97(161-103(189)55-151-117(195)85(39-45-223-22)165-122(200)88(47-66(5)6)168-113(191)72(14)156-102(188)54-153-136(109)214)129(207)171-92(51-101(147)187)125(203)166-86(40-46-224-23)119(197)163-83(35-28-31-41-144)121(199)183-110-77(19)228-63-99-130(208)170-90(49-80-52-149-64-154-80)124(202)176-98(62-227-78(20)111(141(219)177-99)181-116(194)75(17)159-140(110)218)131(209)173-93(57-186)127(205)179-108(71(13)26-3)139(217)172-91(50-81-53-150-65-155-81)126(204)178-106(68(9)10)137(215)157-73(15)114(192)167-87(143(221)222)37-30-33-43-146/h27,52-53,64-72,75-79,83-100,105-112,186H,15-16,24-26,28-51,54-63,144-146,148H2,1-14,17-23H3,(H2,147,187)(H,149,154)(H,150,155)(H,151,195)(H,152,212)(H,153,214)(H,156,188)(H,157,215)(H,158,216)(H,159,218)(H,160,190)(H,161,189)(H,162,213)(H,163,197)(H,164,206)(H,165,200)(H,166,203)(H,167,192)(H,168,191)(H,169,193)(H,170,208)(H,171,207)(H,172,217)(H,173,209)(H,174,196)(H,175,201)(H,176,202)(H,177,219)(H,178,204)(H,179,205)(H,180,210)(H,181,194)(H,182,198)(H,183,199)(H,184,211)(H,221,222)/b82-27-

Notes unverified prose

NCT06097468 (oral nisin, OSCC); GRAS as food preservative; emerging clinical evidence; no approved therapeutic; NCT06097468 (oral, OSCC); GRAS food preservative

Not on file 2

1 of the 8 fields we track hold nothing on this record, and each says why. 1 further absence is named below. A blank field is a bug; a named absence is a finding.

amino-acid sequencenothing we hold supplies it
half-lifenothing we hold supplies it

Each field links to every other record missing the same thing. The full ledger holds 765 gaps across 163 records.