Nat. Biotechnol. 20, 376–380 (2002)

Although the gene discovery technology described in this paper has been demonstrated to have practical utility by several independent researchers, the first author of the paper failed to maintain a proper data notebook to support the results presented. As this constitutes nonadherence to the ethical standards in scientific research, and in accordance with the recommendations from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology (AIST), R. Onuki, E. Suyami and K. Taira respectfully retract this paper. H. Kawasaki declines to associate himself with this retraction and maintains that all the data contained in the paper are valid.