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1. Editorial note

   In our 29 November issue, we published the paper “Transgenic DNA introgressed into traditional maize landraces in Oaxaca, Mexico” by David Quist and Ignacio Chapela. Subsequently, we received several criticisms of the paper, to which we obtained responses from the authors and consulted referees over the exchanges. In the meantime, the authors agreed to obtain further data, on a timetable agreed with us, that might prove beyond reasonable doubt that transgenes have indeed become integrated into the maize genome. The authors have now obtained some additional data, but there is disagreement between them and a referee as to whether these results significantly bolster their argument.

   In light of these discussions and the diverse advice received,Nature has concluded that the evidence available is not sufficient to justify the publication of the original paper. As the authors nevertheless wish to stand by the available evidence for their conclusions, we feel it best simply to make these circumstances clear, to publish the criticisms, the authors' response and new data, and to allow our readers to judge the science for themselves.

   Editor,Nature

Authors and Affiliations

1. Department of Microbiology, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195, Washington, USA

   Matthew Metz

2. Institute of Plant Sciences, ETH, Zürich, CH-8092, Switzerland

   Johannes Fütterer

Corresponding author

Correspondence toMatthew Metz.

Competing interests

Matthew Metz has a consulting

position (roughly 5 hours per week) with Tilligen Inc., Seattle,

Washington. Tilligen is developing an alternative technology to

transgenic crops, and could lose financial

advantage as a result of the submitted critique.

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