An editor at Small, which specializes in science at the micro and nano scale and is based in Germany, confirmed his account. “The data availability statement was mistakenly deleted,” the editor, Plamena Dogandzhiyski, wrote in an email. “We will issue a correction very shortly, which will clarify the error and include a link to the depository where the data is now hosted.”

The journal posted a formal correction to that effect on Thursday.

It is not clear why the authors did not mention the journal’s error when they requested that the sequences be removed from the Sequence Read Archive, or why they told the N.I.H. that the sequences were being updated. Nor is it clear why they waited a year to upload them to another database. Dr. Hu did not respond to an email asking for comment.

Dr. Bloom could not offer an explanation for the conflicting accounts, either. “I’m not in a position to adjudicate among them,” he said in an interview.