RETRACTION: Nanos2 Promotes Differentiation of Chicken (Gallus gallus) Embryonic Stem Cells to Male Germ Cells

Abstract

RETRACTION: W. Zhang, Y. Bi, Y. Wang, D. Li, N. He, M. Wang, J. Jin, Q. Zuo, Y. Zhang, and B. Li, “Nanos2 Promotes Differentiation of Chicken (Gallus gallus) Embryonic Stem Cells to Male Germ Cells,” Journal of Cellular Biochemistry, 119, no. 6 (2018): 4435-4446, https://doi.org/10.1002/jcb.26528.

The above article, published online on 16 November 2017 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), has been retracted by agreement between the authors, the journal Editor-in-Chief, Christian Behl; and Wiley Periodicals LLC. The retraction has been agreed due to concerns raised by third parties. Specifically, it was brought to the journal's attention that Nanos2 has not been identified in Gallus gallus. Further investigation confirmed that the gene examined in the article was actually Nos2, which encodes nitric oxide synthase 2 (NOS2), a protein with different and unrelated functions from those proposed in the study. The corresponding author B. Li stated that she did not directly participate in the experiments conducted for the study and was unaware of its submission. The corresponding author Y. Zhang, on behalf of the remaining co-authors, stated that they mistakenly assumed Nos2, which serves as an alias for Nanos2 in other species, to be homologous to Nanos2 in chickens. This misidentification undermines the study's rationale, methodology, and conclusions. Accordingly, the article is retracted.