Retraction Notice to: The Pathogenic A116V Mutation Enhances Ion-Selective Channel Formation by Prion Protein in Membranes

(Biophysical Journal 110, 1766–1776; April 26, 2016)

This article has been retracted at the request of the authors.

Concerns were raised to the Editor-in-Chief regarding Figure S5. Following a thorough examination of the data, evidence of manipulation via duplication, mirroring, and rescaling of identical data was found. The four histograms for the four conditions had all been generated from the same data. Concerns have been raised about multiple other figures as well. All figures of concern relate to black lipid membrane (BLM) electrophysiology data. Subsequent to the concerns being raised, several raw data files corresponding to each of the four conditions of recordings shown in Figure S5 were located by the authors and reanalyzed. The authors maintain that the results obtained support the conclusions drawn from Figure S5; this was true for each of the four conditions, and for three separate recordings obtained in each condition. The authors further note that the principal results of the paper, that the mouse prion protein forms channels of well-defined conductance that conduct K⁺ and Ca²⁺ but not Na⁺ in BLM experiments, are not affected by the figures in question. The same is true of the results of the hydrogen-deuterium exchange studies coupled with mass spectrometry and whole-cell patch-clamp experiments. Nevertheless, the authors have decided to retract the manuscript in view of the concerns that have been raised. All authors apologize for the errors and any inconvenience caused.