Retraction Note To: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol (2002) 60:33–44

DOI: 10.1007/s00253-002-1062-0

The article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief, as it contains portions of other authors’ writings on the same topic in other publications, without sufficient attribution to these earlier works being given. The principal authors of the paper acknowledged that text from background sources was mistakenly used in this article without proper reference to the original source. Upon investigation carried out according to the Committee on Publication Ethics guidelines, it has been found that the authors have duplicated or rephrased parts from the following articles:

  • The section under “Distribution of nitrile degrading enzyme systems” (Appl Microbiol Biotechnol article, page 34) contains similar text of the article “Biochemistry and biotechnology of mesophilic and thermophilic nitrile metabolizing enzymes“ from Extremophile (1998), 2, 207–216; pp. 207–8.

  • The section under “Ferric NHases” (Appl Microbiol Biotechnol article, p. 37), contains verbatim text of the article “Metalloenzyme nitrile hydratase: Structure, regulation, and application to biotechnology” Nature Biotechnology (1998), 733–736. pp. 733;

  • The section under “Ferric NHases” (Appl Microbiol Biotechnol article, p. 37), contains verbatim text of the article “Nitrile hydrolases” Curr Opin Chem Biol (2000), 4, 95–102; pp. 96.

  • The section under “Cobalt NHases” (Appl Microbiol Biotechnol article, p. 38), contains verbatim text of the article “Metalloenzyme nitrile hydratase: Structure, regulation, and application to biotechnology” Nature Biotechnology (1998), 733–736. pp. 734.

  • The article appears to contain paraphrased text from various parts of the article “Microbial Metabolism of Nitriles and Its Biotechnological Potential” Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research Vol. 58, December 1999, pp 925–947.

  • Tables 1, 2 & 3 in the article have similarities with the tables in the article “Microbial Metabolism of Nitriles and Its Biotechnological Potential” Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research Vol. 58, December 1999, pp 925–947.

  • Fig. 3 (p. 38) of the Appl Microbiol Biotechnol article has similarities with Figure 1 of the article “Metalloenzyme nitrile hydratase: Structure, regulation, and application to biotechnology” Nature Biotechnology (1998), 733–36; pp.734.

  • Fig. 4 (p. 40) of the AMB has similarities with Figure 3 of the article “The catalytic mechanism of amidase also involves nitrile hydrolysis” FEBS Letters (1998), 439, 325–328; pp. 326

The authors have agreed to the retraction.