title: RETRACTED: ChpK and MazF of the toxin-antitoxin modules are involved in the virulence of Leptospira interrogans during infection.
abstract: This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/article-withdrawal).
  
  This article has been retracted at the request of the corresponding author and the editorial office of Microbes and Infection. An independent reviewer of the retraction request was also appointed given that one of the authors is the Editor-in- Chief.
  
  For figure 1C, Lanes 1 and 2 appear to share some unexpected similarities, except for the bottom band, which also appear to be the band of interest.
  
  Sections of Figure 2C appear similar to sections of Figure 5D of a paper that had already appeared in Molecular Microbiology, volume 83, issue 5 (2012) 1006-1023. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2958.2012.07985.x.
  
  In figure 3A, Flow cytograms share identical/similar patterns highlighted in various colours. Peculiarly, some of these patterns can be seen as horizontal rotations of others along the axis that separates different quadrants. (ie red green & purple). Moreover, some quadrants appear to have very high densities of events that are suprisingly limited by quadrant gates (most noticeably quadrants B2 from the second column of panels.
  
  Figure 5A-B it was found that there were duplicated bands were produced.
  
  Figures 5C and 5D, it was found that bands across each individual gel appear identical.
  
  One of the conditions of submission of a paper for publication is that authors declare explicitly that the paper has not been previously published and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Re-use of any data should be appropriately cited. As such this article represents a misuse of the scientific publishing system. The scientific community takes a very strong view on this matter and apologies are offered to readers of the journal that this was not detected during the submission process”.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, PR China. Electronic address: Med_bp@zju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Komi Koukoura
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Komi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, PR China; State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, PR China. Electronic address: geyumei1990@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Yu-Mei
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, PR China; State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, PR China. Electronic address: xxy8088@163.com.
authors.forename: Xiao-Yang
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Xin
authors.affiliation: Health Sciences Research Institute and Molecular Cell Biology Department, University of California, Merced, CA 95343, USA. Electronic address: david.ojcius@gmail.com.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Ojcius
authors.affiliation: New York Presbyterian Hospital & Hospital for Special Surgery, Weill Medical College, Cornell University, New York, NY, USA. Electronic address: dextersun@sinaunitedhealth.com.
authors.forename: Dexter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, PR China; State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, PR China. Electronic address: huweilin.115@163.com.
authors.forename: Wei-Lin
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, PR China; State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, PR China. Electronic address: zhaoxin3151119@163.com.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, PR China; State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, PR China. Electronic address: lxai122@163.com.
authors.forename: Xu'ai
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, PR China; State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, PR China. Electronic address: Med_bp@zju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yan
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002460:Cell Line; D002470:Cell Survival; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000737:chemistry; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D017353:Gene Deletion; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D007921:Leptospira interrogans / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D008264:Macrophages / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology*; D014162:Transfection; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; C439056:ChpI protein, Leptospira interrogans; C439055:ChpK protein, bacteria; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins
keywords: Leptospira interrogans; Toxin–antitoxin module; Virulence