Following publication of this article [1], concerns were raised about the contribution of this study in the context of previously published works.
An assessment carried out in consultation with members of the Editorial Board found overlap in the research question, approach, and datasets with articles previously published by some of the same authors [2, 3]. [2] was cited, but the relationship to this work was not clearly discussed. The previous work [2] investigated the phylogenetic relationships among Melilotus species by analysing DNA sequence data from four of the same loci: rbcL, matK, trnL-F and ITS. The current study [1] uses sequence data from one additional region, psbA-trnH, and analyzes a larger dataset (the majority of additional accessions were from the National Gene Bank of Forage Germplasm (NGBFG, China)). The dataset for this study [1] reused some of the raw sequencing data used in [2] and [3].
The authors have stated that the emphasis of the articles differs, with [2] focusing on interspecific phylogenic relationships within genus Melilotus, and [3] focusing on constructing the standard barcode sequence for each species, while the current study [1] focuses on the genetic variation and diversity of Melilotus accessions collected in China.
The Data Availability statement for this article [1] states that all relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. However, the full raw sequencing data generated during this study were not deposited in an appropriate public repository at the time of publication. The available sequencing data have since been deposited at Genbank with the following accession numbers: 166 ITS sequences (MK918643—MK918756, MK918758—MK918771, MK918773—MK918810); 164 matK sequences (MN532828—MN532973, MN532975—MN532982, MN532984—MN532993); 165 rbcL sequences (MN532693—MN532708, MN532710—MN532717, MN532719—MN532728, MN533354—MN533485); 164 trnH-psbA sequences (MN533090—MN533103, MN533105—MN533112, MN533114—MN533123, MN533222—MN533353); and 117 trnL-F sequences (MN533486—MN533501, MN533503—MN533510, MN533512—MN533521, MN533622—MN533688, MN533690—MN533705).
Eight germplasm accessions were omitted from the published S1 Table in error: PI549124, PI549125, PI549126, and PI549127 belonging to M. albus; ZM-2483 belonging to M. dentatus; and PI595329, PI595335 and PI595338 belonging to M. officinalis.
In light of the concerns about the overlap in the research question, approach, and datasets with previously published work, the PLOS ONE Editors retract this article.
HZ, FW, WG, RB, ZY, BPM, QY, YZ, XY and JZ did not agree with retraction.
References
- 1. Zhang H, Wu F, Guo W, Bai R, Yan Z, Muvunyi BP, et al. (2018) Genetic variation and diversity in 199 Melilotus accessions based on a combination of 5 DNA sequences. PLoS ONE 13(3): e0194172. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0194172 pmid:29534094
- 2. Di H, Duan Z, Luo K, Zhang D, Wu F, Zhang J, et al. (2015) Interspecific Phylogenic Relationships within Genus Melilotus Based on Nuclear and Chloroplast DNA. PLoS ONE 10(7): e0132596. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0132596 pmid:26167689
- 3. Wu F, Ma J, Meng Y, Zhang D, Pascal Muvunyi B, Luo K, et al. (2017) Potential DNA barcodes for Melilotus species based on five single loci and their combinations. PLoS ONE 12(9): e0182693. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0182693 pmid:28910286
Citation: The PLOS ONE Editors (2020) Retraction: Genetic variation and diversity in 199 Melilotus accessions based on a combination of 5 DNA sequences. PLoS ONE 15(3): e0230311. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0230311
Published: March 5, 2020
Copyright: © 2020 The PLOS ONE Editors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.