RETRACTION: The Dual Roles of Melatonin Biosynthesis Enzymes in the Coordination of Melatonin Biosynthesis and Autophagy in Cassava

Abstract

RETRACTION: Y. Wei, Y. Bai, X. Cheng, B. Zhu, R. J. Reiter, and H. Shi, “The Dual Roles of Melatonin Biosynthesis Enzymes in the Coordination of Melatonin Biosynthesis and Autophagy in Cassava,” Journal of Pineal Research 69, no. 1 (2020): e12652, https://doi.org/10.1111/jpi.12652.

The above article, published online on 23 March 2020 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), has been retracted by agreement between the journal Editor-in-Chief, Gianluca Tosini; and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. A report on PubPeer [1] indicated that the pTRV and pTRV-MeASMT3 images in Figure 3D had been duplicated and presented as different samples in Figure 7B following rotation and further alteration. Additionally, several samples presented in Figure 4 contained overlapping or duplicated images. These concerns were confirmed by the publisher.

The authors responded to an inquiry by the publisher and reported that an additional image duplication had occurred in between Figures 6C and 7C, in addition to the other errors. They reported that the duplications were due to mistakes during manuscript preparation. While the authors presented original as well as repeat data with the intention of correcting these errors, the authors did not provide a satisfactory explanation for the evidence of image rotation and alteration of images between Figures 3 and 7. Therefore, the publisher and the editor have lost confidence in the results and the conclusions, and the article must be retracted. The authors agree with the retraction.