Plant pathology and genetics
Pamela Ronald: Rice immunity and quorum sensing papers, 2013
University of California, Davis
Errors without misconduct Retracted two papers in 2013 after her lab could not reproduce key results, with no misconduct finding.2,4
Papers
| Paper | Action | Date | Reason stated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Protein-Mediated Quorum Sensing in a Gram-Negative Bacterium PLOS ONE, 2011 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.00291921,3 | Retracted | 9 September 2013 | Retracted by the authors, Retraction Watch classed the reasons as wrong reagents and unreliable findings. |
| A type I secreted, sulfated peptide triggers XA21-mediated innate immunity Science, 2009 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.342.6155.191-a1,2 | Retracted | 11 October 2013 | The authors said they have not been able to consistently reproduce the results shown in Figure 3, and cited a mixed-up bacterial strain and errors in two figures. |
Investigations
- Authors (self-initiated retractions), 2013The group found a bacterial strain they had used was contaminated and later published updated data in PeerJ, according to Retraction Watch. No misconduct was found or alleged in the coverage read.2,4
Response
She wrote that there was never any question that I would correct the scientific record if we had made a mistake (Scientific American blog, quoted by Retraction Watch).2
Sources
- Crossref (incorporating Retraction Watch data), Crossref works search: retraction notices, author Pamela Ronald (27 October 2026)
- Retraction Watch, Pamela Ronald does the right thing again, retracting a Science paper (10 October 2013)
- Retraction Watch, Doing the right thing: Researchers retract quorum sensing paper after public process (11 September 2013)
- Retraction Watch, Following up: Pamela Ronald publishes updated data following two retractions (14 January 2014)