Vol. 128: 1173–1179, 2002
Stermitz F.R., Hufbauer R.A., and Vivanco J.M. Enantiomeric-Dependent Phytotoxic and Antimicrobial Activity of (±)-Catechin. A Rhizosecreted Racemic Mixture from Spotted Knapweed.
Several aspects of this study were recently found erroneous or nonreproducible (Figs. 1, C and D, and 2, A and B), and therefore it is our responsibility to report that the premise of this study is not correct and therefore this report is formally retracted. For instance, in a recent reinvestigation, the Vivanco laboratory was unable to detect catechin in any form secreted by the roots of Centaurea maculosa plants under in vitro conditions. Whether catechin found in other studies originated from roots, microbes, or other sources is not known. The chirality of this catechin has not been determined. The authors truly regret the inconvenience and difficulties that this action causes Plant Physiology and its readership.
Editor's note: H.P. Bais, the first author of the original study, strongly disagrees with the basis for the retraction.