Retraction to: Nature Microbiology (2021) 6:366-379 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-020-00843-2

The Editors have retracted this article. After publication, concerns were raised regarding highly similar images in Fig. 1e (Mcu-fl/fl 1 h and Mcu-Δmye 3 h). The authors have checked the data and found additional errors in Figs. 2h and 5l. Further checks by the Publisher also found similarities between images representing different treatment groups in the original data for Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 5.

The Editors therefore no longer have confidence in the presented data.

Laura E. Herring, Yu L. Lei, Xiaolin Cheng, Pankaj K. Singh and Douglas R. Green agree with this retraction. Haitao Wen does not agree with this retraction. The other authors have not responded to any correspondence from the editor or publisher about this retraction.