Nature 438, 318–324 (2005)

We wish to withdraw a poorly worded criticism of Arthur E. Johnson's fluorescent studies of the ribosome–PCC complex, contained in the Supplementary Information to this Article. The issues raised by the discrepancies between several cryo-EM studies and the body of work from Johnson's group regarding solvent accessibility of the ribosome–PCC junction warrant more extensive study and discussion in the scientific community. The withdrawal of the statement has no bearing on the results of our study or on their interpretation.