ArticleAnalytical chemistry2025
Propidium Monoazide is Unreliable for Quantitative Live-Dead Molecular Assays.
Article in Analytical chemistry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Gut microbiota translocation and dissemination in health: can it be beneficial and purposeful?Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Single-cell detection and quantification of the microbiota by MicFLY.Cell host & microbe · 2026Article
- A photoactivation-free viability PCR reagent for rapid, culture-independent detection of live bacteria.Microbiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Optimized Viability-ddPCR with Triton X-100 Enhancement for Selective Detection of LiveJournal of microbiology and biotechnology · 2026Article
- Methodological bias shapes the interpretation of the urinary microbiome in low-biomass systems.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- Application-focused validation of a viability-selective PMA-qPCR assay for selected skin-associated and cosmetic-relevant bacteria.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Single-cell quantification of the microbiota by flow cytometry: MicFLY.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Gut microbiota and colorectal cancer: mechanistic insights, diagnostic advances, and microbiome-based therapeutic strategies.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Review
- Trehalose and maltodextrin preserve microbial community structure in freeze-dried fecal samples for fecal microbiota transplantation.ISME communications · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Propidium monoazide (PMA) is a dye that distinguishes between live and dead cells in molecular assays like the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). It works by cross-linking to the DNA of cells that have compromised membranes or extracellular DNA upon photoactivation, making the DNA inaccessible for amplification. Currently, PMA is used to detect viable pathogens and alleviate systemic bias in the microbiome analysis of samples using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. In these applications, treated samples consist of different amounts of dead bacteria and a range of bacterial strains, variables that can affect the performance of PMA and lead to inconsistent findings across various research studies. To evaluate the effectiveness of PMA, we used a sensitive qPCR assay and post-treatment sample concentration to determine PMA cross-linkage and activity accurately under varying sample conditions. We report that PMA is unreliable for viability assays when the concentration and composition of the bacterial mixtures are unknown. PMA is suitable only for qualitatively assessing viability in samples containing a known number of dead microbes or extracellular DNA.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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 OpenQuestion graph.