OsEL2 Regulates Rice Cold Tolerance by MAPK Signaling Pathway and Ethylene Signaling Pathway

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Please mention the minor suggestions to improve the manuscript

• How does low temperature stress impact rice yield?

• What is the function of cell cycle protein-dependent protein kinase inhibitors (CKIs) in plants?

• Why has the role of CKIs in rice cold tolerance been less studied?

• What is OsEL2 (LOC_Os03g01740), and how was it investigated in this study?

• How did the anti-expression lines of OsEL2 respond to cold stress compared to wild-type Nippobare (Nip)?

• What oxidative damage differences were observed between OsEL2-AX plants and Nip under cold stress?

• How did antioxidant enzyme activity, specifically catalase (CAT), differ in OsEL2-AX plants under 4°C stress?

• What were the key findings from RNA sequencing in terms of differentially expressed genes (DEGs)?

• What metabolic pathways were significantly enriched according to KEGG pathway enrichment analysis?

• How do amino acid, lipid, and terpene metabolism relate to rice cold tolerance?

• What insights were provided by weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) regarding gene modules linked to cold tolerance?

• What role does terpene metabolism and secondary metabolite metabolism play in rice cold tolerance?

• How are the genes involved in cold tolerance regulated according to transcription factor (TF) enrichment analysis?

• What role do mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and ethylene signaling pathways play in rice cold tolerance?

• What pathways were enriched in down-regulated genes, including tryptophan and phenylalanine metabolism?

• How does monoterpene synthesis contribute to rice's response to cold stress?

• How does the KEGG enrichment analysis of AX2 with Nip further validate the role of OsEL2 in cold tolerance?

• What conclusions can be drawn regarding the anti-expression of OsEL2 and its effect on rice’s ability to tolerate cold stress?

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Understandable article, written in good English.

Adequate introduction to present the work.

The species under study, rice, has a high economic value in the world and the study of rice's cold tolerance is very interesting.

Low temperature stress represents a significant abiotic stress factor affecting rice yield.

Results presented in an exhaustive and detailed manner;

Good discussion.

The materials and methods used for the experiment are clear and well described.

Interesting study, as a starting point to expand to other species and better understand the response to stress.

The figures and tables are explanatory.

The article is an excellent work, well structured and clearly written. The objective of considerable importance.
Just a few small observations below:

line 61 -62 – 63 insert updated bibliography;
In some cases such as line n.115,119,122 and in other cases Error! Reference source not found.
 line 450 specifies the time periods for fresh leaf sampling

For me the article is accepted.

Author Response

line 61 -62 – 63 insert updated bibliography;
In some cases such as line n.115,119,122 and in other cases Error! Reference source not found.
 line 450 specifies the time periods for fresh leaf sampling

Thank you for your advice. We have amended it in the text.