PLOS Pathogens retracts Flaviviridae methylation study

The PLOS Pathogens Editors have issued a retraction notice for an article titled “Flaviviridae RdRp exploits NSUN2-driven m5C methylation to establish persistent infection.” The retraction was published on November 9, 2026, following a review of concerns raised about the reliability and integrity of the results presented in the original publication. The decision to retract the article was made by the journal editors based on unresolved issues regarding specific figures and data integrity.

The retraction notice identifies that concerns were raised after the original article was published regarding results presented in Figures 1, 3, S6, S8, S10, and S21. These figures contain various experimental data, including western blot panels and confocal microscopy line graphs. The specific nature of the concerns involves potential similarities between panels that should represent distinct experimental conditions, as well as repetitive areas within graphical data.

One specific concern noted in the retraction notice is that the Lung β-actin panel in Figure 1E appears similar to the WCL β-actin panel in Figure 3G. Additionally, there appear to be similarities between parts of confocal microscopy line graphs, specifically between Fig S6F NS4B and Fig S6F NS5A, and between Fig S8A NS1 and Fig S8A NS2B. These visual similarities raised questions about the distinctness of the experimental conditions represented in the data.

Further scrutiny of the confocal microscopy line graphs revealed repetitive areas in several figures, including Fig S8B NS3, Fig S8B NS4B, Fig S8B NS5A, Fig S8C Vector, Fig S10B CSFV-NS5B, and Fig S10E ML-792. These graphical anomalies contributed to the editorial review of the data’s integrity.

Another significant concern involved the Npro panel in Figure S21B of the retracted article, which appears similar to the Npro panel in Figure 8B of a separate publication, despite representing different experimental conditions. The corresponding author stated that the Fig 1E Lung β-actin panel was incorrect and provided underlying data and a replacement panel. Regarding the confocal microscopy graphs, the corresponding author provided replacement graphs plotted from a reanalysis of the original images. However, upon editorial review, the data provided did not resolve the concerns regarding these graphs.

The corresponding author also stated that the Fig S21B panel was incorrect and provided a replacement panel along with underlying uncropped blot data. However, the underlying blot provided raised additional concerns with the results in Fig S21B. In light of these unresolved issues, which question the reliability and integrity of the reported results, the PLOS Pathogens Editors decided to retract the article. The retraction notice explicitly states that the authors did not agree with the retraction and stand by the article’s findings.

In addition to the specific figure concerns, the retraction notice mentions that concerns were raised about discontinuities in the background of multiple western blot panels in the original article. Due to the other unresolved concerns regarding the figures and data integrity, PLOS did not investigate the blot discontinuity concerns further.

The retraction notice is attributed to the PLOS Pathogens Editors and is identified as an Article type publication. The original article had an Open Access designation. The DOI for the retraction notice is 10.1371/journal.ppat.1014764.

Subject of Research: Retraction of a Flaviviridae research article due to data integrity concerns

Article Title: Retraction: Flaviviridae RdRp exploits NSUN2-driven m 5 C methylation to establish persistent infection

Article References: The PLOS Pathogens Editors (2026). Retraction: Flaviviridae RdRp exploits NSUN2-driven m5C methylation to establish persistent infection. PLOS Pathogens, 22(11), e1014764. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1014764

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1014764

Keywords: retraction, PLOS Pathogens, Flaviviridae, data integrity, scientific publishing, western blot, confocal microscopy, NSUN2, m5C methylation, editorial review, RdRp, exploits