Synonymous Variants of Uncertain Silence
, Wayne W. Grody 5,6,7 and Martin R. Schiller 1,2,3,*
Ewa Grzybowska
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The commentary presented here makes use of data from a previous publication of the same research time, highlighting a different analysis and interpretation of some of their results.
Overall the commentary shows a different point of view of the analysis.
Only minor comments should be considered by the authors.
1) A small paragraph on the importance of Tat as a transcription factor in HIV should be added to the Introduction for the not familiarized audience.
2) Please rephrase in line 87: "In the Tat transcription paper" to a more scientific sound phrase. Authors can recite their relevant paper here.
English language is ok
Author Response
We thank the reviewers for their expert review and appreciate the enthusiasm for our manuscript. We have addressed the two critiques raised.
Reviewer 1
- A small paragraph on the importance of Tat as a transcription factor in HIV should be added to the Introduction for the not familiarized audience.
Authors’ response: We have added the paragraph as requested.
- Please rephrase in line 87: "In the Tat transcription paper" to a more scientific sound phrase. Authors can recite their relevant paper here.
Authors’ response: This sentence has been rephrased as suggested.
Reviewer 2
No Concerns noted
Reviewer 2 Report
The authors raise very important issue which occurred when the massive sequencing of human genome became available and many variants were identified. Research conducted on synonymous variants showed that not all of them were silent even though the amino acid sequence in encoded protein was not changed. They estimated the effect of synonymous variants on transcriptional function using two cell lines.
The authors are critical about their results suggesting that more research is needed to elucidate the effects of synonymous variants and they suggest that they should be classified as synonymous variants of uncertain silence (sVUS).
Author Response
We thank the reviewers for their expert review and appreciate the enthusiasm for our manuscript. We have addressed the two critiques raised.
Reviewer 1
- A small paragraph on the importance of Tat as a transcription factor in HIV should be added to the Introduction for the not familiarized audience.
Authors’ response: We have added the paragraph as requested.
- Please rephrase in line 87: "In the Tat transcription paper" to a more scientific sound phrase. Authors can recite their relevant paper here.
Authors’ response: This sentence has been rephrased as suggested.
Reviewer 2
No Concerns noted
