RETRACTION: Nanos2 Promotes Differentiation of Male Germ Cells Basing on the Negative Regulation of Foxd3 and the Treatment of 5-Azadc and TSA

RETRACTION: W. Zhang, Y. Bi, Y. Wang, M. Wang, D. Li, S. Cheng, J. Jin, T. Li, B. Li, and Y. Zhang, “Nanos2 Promotes Differentiation of Male Germ Cells Basing on the Negative Regulation of Foxd3 and the Treatment of 5-Azadc and TSA,” Journal of Cellular Physiology, 234, no. 4 (2019): 3762–3774, https://doi.org/10.1002/jcp.27139.

The above article, published online on 26 August 2018 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), has been retracted by agreement between the authors, the journal Editor-in-Chief, Robert Heath; and Wiley Periodicals LLC.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. 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.