Phenolic Compounds Regulating the Susceptibility of Adult Pine Species to Bursaphelenchus xylophilus
, Sara Canas 3,4, Maria L. Inácio 1,5, Santiago Pereira-Lorenzo 2, Edmundo Sousa 1,5 and Pedro Naves 1,5Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The effect of B. xylophilus infection on the content of phenolic compounds in the branches of sensitive/resistant Pine wilt disease was investigated using susceptible and resistant Pine trees. The results provided evidence for explaining the chemical defense mechanism against nematode disease.
Some minor questions need to be answered and revised
Title
- regulating>>regulate
- Please use italic Bursaphelenchus xylophilus
Abstract
3.adult Pinus sylvestris Pinus pinaster, Pinus pinea and Pinus halepensis>> P. pinaster, P. pinea and P. halepensis
4. In the presence of the PWN,
Introduction
- Please check the entire manuscript to make the Latin names italicized.
- These phenolic compounds……, …….or induced by the pathogen attack [24, 25, 26 ] >> induced by the herbivore insect and pathogen attack.
Discussion
- Of course, phenolic compounds can directly affect the infection of nematodes; however, they can affect microorganisms and indirectly regulate nematodes.
- In Figure 1, error lines should be marked, and one-way ANOVA should mark significance. The bar chart's color collocation and horizontal and vertical coordinates should be further embellished to show the results more clearly.9.
- The chromatogram of Figure2 b shows which of the four pine species (Pinus) mentioned in the paper is not specified in the legend.
- Mark out significant differences on the line graph。
- Picture quality needs to be improved.
Author Response
We would like to thank Reviewer 1 for the valuable comments and suggestions, and the overall appreciation of the manuscript.
Considering your specific points:
Point 1: “Title regulating>>regulate”.
Response 1: Regulating, the present participle of the verb regulate, is used here as an adjective, because in the English language many past and present participles of verbs can be used as adjectives, which is the case. We consider that changing to “regulate” would make the sentence over-affirmative, and prefer to maintain regulating as a way to suggest they have an important, but not exclusive, role in the mechanisms of pine resistance to the PWN.
Point 2 and 3: “Title Please use italic Bursaphelenchus xylophilus and Abstract adult Pinus sylvestris Pinus pinaster, Pinus pinea and Pinus halepensis>> P. pinaster, P. pinea and P. halepensis”.
Response 2 and 3: The version we submitted had the names of all species (in the Title, Abstract and main Text) in italics, but that was lost somehow in the conversion of files. But thank you for noticing, and we have changed again all scientific names to Italics.
Point 4: “In the presence of the PWN,”.
Response 4: The correction was made.
Point 6: “These phenolic compounds……, …….or induced by the pathogen attack [24, 25, 26 ] >> induced by the herbivore insect and pathogen attack”.
Response 6: The correction was made.
Point 8: “Of course, phenolic compounds can directly affect the infection of nematodes; however, they can affect microorganisms and indirectly regulate nematodes.”
Response 8: A sentence on this subject was added to the Concluding Remarks.
Point 9: “In Figure 1, error lines should be marked, and one-way ANOVA should mark significance. The bar chart's color collocation and horizontal and vertical coordinates should be further embellished to show the results more clearly.”.
Response 9: The corrections were made.
Point 10: “The chromatogram of Figure2 b shows which of the four pine species (Pinus) mentioned in the paper is not specified in the legend.”.
Response 10: The legend was changed accordingly.
Point 11: “Mark out significant differences on the line graph”.
Response 11: This info was added to the graphs.
Point 12: “Picture quality needs to be improved.”
Response 12: Picture quality was significantly improved for all Figures.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (pine wood nematode) is a species of nematode infecting trees in the Pinus genus. This species, native to North America, spread to Asia and Europe and is responsible for seriuos economic and environmental losses.
Little is known about the susceptibility of individual tree species to infection by this species of parasite. In this respect, the research topic undertaken by the authors is important from a scientific and practical point of view. The value of the results, however high, is lowered by the small number of samples analyzed.
Some remarks:
Use italics consistently for genus and species names of plants and animals.
Check and correct the degree sign throughout the manuscript.
Indicate the name manufacturers of devices or reagents only when necessary.
Which statistical tests (if any) were used to determine the normality of the distribution and the equality of variance?
Consistently indicate and use only one P level (either P <0.05 or P <0.01), indicate the number of degrees of freedom.
Increase the quality (resolution) of the graphs included in the manuscript. They are of poor quality.
Indicate statistically significant differences on the graphs (if applicable).
Table and figures captions: indicate tests used for the statistical analysis.
Author Response
Considering your specific points:
Point 1: “Use italics consistently for genus and species names of plants and animals.”.
Response 1: The version we submitted had the names of all species (in the Title, Abstract and main Text) in italics, but that was lost somehow in the conversion of files. But thank you for noticing, and we have changed again all scientific names to Italics.
Point 2: “Check and correct the degree sign throughout the manuscript.”.
Response 2: The corrections were made.
Point 3: “Indicate the name manufacturers of devices or reagents only when necessary.”.
Response 3: The corrections were made, and unnecessary details on manufacturers were removed.
Point 4: “Which statistical tests (if any) were used to determine the normality of the distribution and the equality of variance?
Response 4: We´ve used the Shapiro-Wilk test to analyse data for normal distribution. This info was added to the text (Materials and Methods).
Point 5: “Consistently indicate and use only one P level (either P <0.05 or P <0.01), indicate the number of degrees of freedom.”.
Response 5: The corrections were made as suggested, and the number of df were added to the statistical results.
Point 6: “Increase the quality (resolution) of the graphs included in the manuscript. They are of poor quality.”.
Response 6: Picture quality was significantly improved for all Figures.
Point 7: “Indicate statistically significant differences on the graphs (if applicable).”
Response 7: This info was added to the graphs.
Point 8: “Table and figures captions: indicate tests used for the statistical analysis.”
Response 8: This info was added to the Table and figures captions.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
