RNA Helicase Vasa as a Multifunctional Conservative Regulator of Gametogenesis in Eukaryotes
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The review presents the current knowledge on VASA, the germ cell marker, in a systematic and thorough way. The work has strong illustrations.
Author Response
Reviewer 1
The review presents the current knowledge on VASA, the germ cell marker, in a systematic and thorough way. The work has strong illustrations.
Response: Thank you for your high appreciation of our work.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Authors present a highly interesting and current review on the role of RNA helicase Vasa as a multifunctional regulator of gametogenesis in eucaryotes. The manuscript gives a perfectly arranged and well-illustrated survey on different Vasa functions that have been revealed in literature in the germline of model and non-model organisms, from Drosophila to human beings, during the last years. The review is certainly of interest for a broad spectrum of scientist.
I have only few minor suggestions for improvement:
- line 420: proteins that have been shown
- line 447: expressed in the germ cells
- References: please present the references in a uniform style that means all paper titles in lowercase letters and all species names in italics.
Author Response
Reviewer 2
Authors present a highly interesting and current review on the role of RNA helicase Vasa as a multifunctional regulator of gametogenesis in eucaryotes. The manuscript gives a perfectly arranged and well-illustrated survey on different Vasa functions that have been revealed in literature in the germline of model and non-model organisms, from Drosophila to human beings, during the last years. The review is certainly of interest for a broad spectrum of scientist.
Response: Thank you for your high appreciation of our manuscript and your helpful comments.
I have only few minor suggestions for improvement:
- line 420: proteins that have been shown
Response: It was changed accordingly.
- line 447: expressed in the germ cells
Response: It was corrected.
- References: please present the references in a uniform style that means all paper titles in lowercase letters and all species names in italics.
Response: Yes, it was done, all references were formatted in a uniform style.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments about the manuscript:
“RNA helicase Vasa as a multifunctional conservative regulator of gametogenesis in eukaryotes”
The DEAD Vasa box RNA helicase (DDX4) is an evolutionarily conserved metazoan germ cell marker. It is involved in many aspects: preformation, maintenance of germline stem cells, protection against harmful elements and many others. The work presented here is a review concerning this marker, the study of which is currently in full development. This review seemed to me very complete with useful reminders concerning the development of germ cells in certain animal models. This work seems to me to be mature and could be published as is. I would just make a few minor comments.
Throughout the text: check if the names assigned to the genes are written in italics.
Page 2, line 84. “after stage 9 [21,26].”: reference 25 is given after ref 26 (next page).
Page 5, lines 160-161. Write “ Intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) have no defined tertiary structure” instead of “ Intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) do not have a defined tertiary structure”.
Page 8, lines 286-287. “ It has been shown that sexual dimorphism in Vasa functions or expression occurs in a variety of model and non-model organisms.”: what is a "non-model organism"?
Page 21, line 910. I propose to write: “Thus, the terminal domains of Vasa, which are not conserved in different animals, may be proposed to be responsible for the recognition of specific targets.” instead of “Thus, terminal domains of Vasa, which are non-conservative in different animals, can proposedly be responsible for specific target recognition.”
Author Response
Reviewer 3
The DEAD Vasa box RNA helicase (DDX4) is an evolutionarily conserved metazoan germ cell marker. It is involved in many aspects: preformation, maintenance of germline stem cells, protection against harmful elements and many others. The work presented here is a review concerning this marker, the study of which is currently in full development. This review seemed to me very complete with useful reminders concerning the development of germ cells in certain animal models. This work seems to me to be mature and could be published as is. I would just make a few minor comments.
Response: Thank you for your high assessment of our manuscript and your helpful comments. We have incorporated corresponding modifications in the revised version of the paper.
Throughout the text: check if the names assigned to the genes are written in italics.
Response: It was done.
Page 2, line 84. “after stage 9 [21,26].”: reference 25 is given after ref 26 (next page).
Response: The reference 25 is placed in the figure legend for the Figure 2. The first mention of the Figure 2 (line 82) is placed in the text before reference 26 (line 83).
Page 5, lines 160-161. Write “ Intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) have no defined tertiary structure” instead of “ Intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) do not have a defined tertiary structure”.
Response: Yes, it was changed accordingly.
Page 8, lines 286-287. “ It has been shown that sexual dimorphism in Vasa functions or expression occurs in a variety of model and non-model organisms.”: what is a "non-model organism"?
Response: We modified this sentence as “It has been shown that sexual dimorphism in Vasa functions or expression occurs in a variety of model animals and other species”. Related to the differentiation of model organisms and non-model ones, we can say that if functions of genes in various organisms are often assumed from their sequence similarities, model organisms stand out because they have many genes for which gene function has been experimentally demonstrated and annotated. Thus, differences appear in the depth of studies conducted using particular animal species, model organisms have been better studied in molecular and general biological aspects.
Page 21, line 910. I propose to write: “Thus, the terminal domains of Vasa, which are not conserved in different animals, may be proposed to be responsible for the recognition of specific targets.” instead of “Thus, terminal domains of Vasa, which are non-conservative in different animals, can proposedly be responsible for specific target recognition.”
Response: Yes, thank you for the style improvement. We corrected this sentence accordingly.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
