RETRACTED: ChpK and MazF of the toxin–antitoxin modules are involved in the virulence of Leptospira interrogans during infection

• Published in: Microbes and infection Vol. 17; no. 1; pp. 34 - 47
• Main Authors: Komi, Komi Koukoura, Ge, Yu-Mei, Xin, Xiao-Yang, Ojcius, David M., Sun, Dexter, Hu, Wei-Lin, Zhao, Xin, Lin, Xu'ai, Yan, Jie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: France Elsevier Masson SAS 01.01.2015
• Subjects: Apoptosis; Bacterial Proteins; Bacterial Toxins - genetics; Bacterial Toxins - metabolism; Cell Line; Cell Survival; Cytoplasm - chemistry; DNA-Binding Proteins - genetics; DNA-Binding Proteins - metabolism; Gene Deletion; Gene Expression Profiling; Humans; Leptospira interrogans - genetics; Leptospira interrogans - growth & development; Leptospira interrogans - pathogenicity; Macrophages - microbiology; Macrophages - physiology; Transfection; Virulence; Virulence; Leptospira interrogans; Toxin–antitoxin module
• ISSN: 1286-4579; 1769-714X; 1769-714X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.micinf.2014.10.010

This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/article-withdrawal). This article has been retracted at the request of the corresponding author and the editorial office of Microbes and Infection. An independent reviewer of the retraction request was also appointed given that one of the authors is the Editor-in- Chief. For figure 1C, Lanes 1 and 2 appear to share some unexpected similarities, except for the bottom band, which also appear to be the band of interest. Sections of Figure 2C appear similar to sections of Figure 5D of a paper that had already appeared in Molecular Microbiology, volume 83, issue 5 (2012) 1006-1023. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2958.2012.07985.x. In figure 3A, Flow cytograms share identical/similar patterns highlighted in various colours. Peculiarly, some of these patterns can be seen as horizontal rotations of others along the axis that separates different quadrants. (ie red green & purple). Moreover, some quadrants appear to have very high densities of events that are suprisingly limited by quadrant gates (most noticeably quadrants B2 from the second column of panels. Figure 5A-B it was found that there were duplicated bands were produced. Figures 5C and 5D, it was found that bands across each individual gel appear identical. One of the conditions of submission of a paper for publication is that authors declare explicitly that the paper has not been previously published and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Re-use of any data should be appropriately cited. As such this article represents a misuse of the scientific publishing system. The scientific community takes a very strong view on this matter and apologies are offered to readers of the journal that this was not detected during the submission process”.