RETRACTED: Peptide-induced formation of protein aggregates and amyloid fibrils in human and guinea pig Œ±A-crystallins under physiological conditions of temperature and pH
Authors: Frank J Giblin
Anthony Premceski
Sivakumar Jeyarajan
Victoria A Kimler
Eric Seidel
Anbarasu Kumarasamy
Jonathan Cheon
Journal: Experimental Eye Research (2019)
Discipline: CLINICAL MEDICINE
Keywords: Amyloid fibrils; Disulfide crosslinking; Guinea pig; Human; Lens crystallins
Affiliations: Eye Research Institute, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, 48309, USA; Department of Marine Biotechnology, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India., Eye Research Institute, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, 48309, USA., Eye Research Institute, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, 48309, USA. Electronic address: .

Abstract:  This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/article-withdrawal). This article has been retracted at the request of the authors. The senior author contacted the journal in a forthright manner, in an effort to preserve the scientific integrity of the literature, after discovering a significant error in the results reported in the article. The authors were recently made aware of a paper by Kim et al. (Nature Commun. 2019) which shows a spirosome structure (the enzyme aldehyde-alcohol dehydrogenase) present in E. coli (Fig. 5a) that is very similar to the structure the authors thought formed when synthetic alpha A crystallin (66-80) peptide was incubated for 24 h with recombinant guinea pig alpha A insert crystallin (see Kumarasamy et al., Figs. 7C and F, and Fig. 9). Subsequent to publication of their report, the authors later found a number of images that showed what appeared to be the same structure present in samples of their presumably purified recombinant guinea pig alpha A insert crystallin which had been incubated without peptide for 24 h. Hence, the authors now conclude that the structures shown in Figs. 7C and F, and Fig. 9 of their article published in this journal are actually due to E. coli contaminant aldehyde-alcohol dehydrogenase. The authors deeply regret this error and any inconvenience it may have caused. 

Retracted: Yes

PubPeer comments:
 2020 retraction. https: www.sciencedirect.com science article pii S0014483520301871?via%3Dihub This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal . This article has been retracted at the request of the authors. The senior author contacted the journal in a forthright manner, in an effort to preserve the scientific integrity of the literature, after discovering a significant error in the results reported in the article. The authors were recently made aware of a paper by Kim et al. (Nature Commun. 2019) which shows a spirosome structure (the enzyme aldehyde-alcohol dehydrogenase) present in E. coli (Fig. 5a) that is very similar to the structure the authors thought formed when synthetic alpha A crystallin (66u201380) peptide was incubated for 24 h with recombinant guinea pig alpha A insert crystallin (see Kumarasamy et al. Figs. 7C and F, and Fig. 9). Subsequent to publication of their report, the authors later found a number of images that showed what appeared to be the same structure present in samples of their presumably purified recombinant guinea pig alpha A insert crystallin which had been incubated without peptide for 24 h. Hence, the authors now conclude that the structures shown in Figs. 7C and F, and Fig. 9 of their article published in this journal are actually due to E. coli contaminant aldehyde-alcohol dehydrogenase. The authors deeply regret this error and any inconvenience it may have caused. ,