Recent Advances in Flower Color and Fragrance of Osmanthus fragrans
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Line 36-38
In the heat map, the source of each number is not clearly explained. Are the years and keywords related by inclusion or juxtaposition? Please explain.
Line 41-43
The order in the first four species groups appears in the article is inconsistent with the order in Figure 2. The basis for classification needs to be supported by references. It is necessary to clarify “color” refers to flowers or other parts.
Line 89-100
All statements in this section have no references.
Line 119 and Line 123
Similar meaning, consider refining language.
Line 132-135
All abbreviations should have clear explanations.
Line 221-224
Only ERF2 translation factor is mentioned in the manuscript. Other descriptions require reference support.
Line 246
The title here does not provide a good summary of the following content. This section needs to add a summary of research on volatile substances in O. fragrans flowers.
Line 351
‘O. fragrans’ was supposed in Italic.
Line 372-373
Structural gene and transcription factor are confused here.
Line 374-376
This section is not described in this manuscript. You need to add details in context to support this conclusion.
The language needs further polished. I would suggest the author finding a language editing service or a native scientist for the text modification.
Author Response
Forests
Manuscript ID: forests-2420929
Title: Recent advances in flower color and fragrance of Osmanthus fragrans: metabolites, gene regulation and valorization
Reviewer #1:
Point 1: Line 36-38
In the heat map, the source of each number is not clearly explained. Are the years and keywords related by inclusion or juxtaposition? Please explain.
Response 1: Thanks for your suggestion and this mistake has been corrected. The data of heatmap is based on the Web of Science Core Collection database, the years and keywords are juxtaposed. And we add more information in line 34-40.
Point 2: Line 41-43
The order in the first four species groups appears in the article is inconsistent with the order in Figure 2. The basis for classification needs to be supported by references. It is necessary to clarify “color” refers to flowers or other parts.
Response 2: Thanks for your careful check, the order in the first four species groups appears in the article has been corrected to be consistent with the order in Figure 2. The reference demonstrating the basis for classification has been added, and “color” refers to flowers, which has been explained in line 52-57.
Point 3: Line 89-100
All statements in this section have no references.
Response 3: Thanks for the correction, the related references have been added in 1.3 section.
Point 4: Line 119 and Line 123
Similar meaning, consider refining language.
Response 4: Thanks for your suggestion, and we have deleted a similar sentence.
Point 5: Line 132-135
All abbreviations should have clear explanations.
Response 5: Thanks for your suggestion, and the missing notes have been added in line 131-140.
Point 6: Line 221-224
Only ERF2 translation factor is mentioned in the manuscript. Other descriptions require reference support.
Response 6: Thanks for pointing the mistake, the description of other translation factor has been added in line 221-226, related reference has been added at the same time.
Point 7: Line 246
The title here does not provide a good summary of the following content. This section needs to add a summary of research on volatile substances in O. fragrans flowers.
Response 7: Thanks for your advice, the relevant summary is described under title 3.
Point 8: Line 351
‘O. fragrans’ was supposed in Italic.
Response 8: Thank you very much, this has been corrected.
Point 9: Line 372-373
Structural gene and transcription factor are confused here.
Response 9: Thank you for pointing that, we noticed that and made adjustment in detail.
Point 10: Line 374-376
This section is not described in this manuscript. You need to add details in context to support this conclusion.
Response 10: Thanks for that, a similar question was raised by another reviewer, we are aware of the error and have made changes. We deleted this conclusion, and added this section in prospect.
Reviewer 2 Report
1. The authors provide a more comprehensive overview of the progress of color and fragrance research in Osmanthus fragrans, from metabolites to gene regulation, etc. In the first part of the introduction, the authors devote more space to the value and utilization of Osmanthus fragrans. Is it necessary? Suggested author streamlining.
2. The author's review of volatile component is not clear. It is only a list of literature. How did Osmanthus fragrans form? In addition, whether the aroma formation process can be sorted into pictures.
Moderate editing of English language required
Author Response
Forests
Manuscript ID: forests-2420929
Title: Recent advances in flower color and fragrance of Osmanthus fragrans: metabolites, gene regulation and valorization
Point 1: The authors provide a more comprehensive overview of the progress of color and fragrance research in Osmanthus fragrans, from metabolites to gene regulation, etc. In the first part of the introduction, the authors devote more space to the value and utilization of Osmanthus fragrans. Is it necessary? Suggested author streamlining.
Response 1: Thanks for your suggestion, we have revised this section in line 98-114.
Point 2: The author's review of volatile component is not clear. It is only a list of literature. How did Osmanthus fragrans form? In addition, whether the aroma formation process can be sorted into pictures.
Response 2: Your advice helps me a lot to realize the mistake, pathway of O. fragrans fragrance has been described in figure 5.
Reviewer 3 Report
This paper summarizes the research progress of the color and fragrance of Osmanthus fragrans, and has done a lot of summary work from the aspects of material composition analysis, gene regulation and characteristic identification. However, as a summary of the research progress on the color and fragrance of O. fragrans, the latest research technology is not grasped at the same time, which points out the future research direction for researchers. There is a big gap in this respect, and finally add discussion and prospect.
1. The title is inappropriate. Although the full text mainly describes the contents of "metabolites, gene regulation and valorization", these three parts have no logical relationship and are not suitable for juxtaposition in the title. It is suggested to remove them.
2. Figure 1. The latest related documents up to June 2023 should be added statistically. In addition, through Figure 1, it is obvious that the number of literatures about regulating the color and fragrance genes of O. fragrans has increased in recent years, indicating that researchers have developed from physiological and biochemical stage to molecular research such as genetic engineering, and the significance of statistical related literatures should be clearly explained.
3. In the first part, the introduction of O. fragrans resources is too simple and basic. The origin, color, floral characteristics and long-term domestication history of O. fragrans should be described. At the same time, whether the external environment, such as humidity, light and temperature, has any influence on the formation of flowers and colors should also be briefly summarized in the introduction part.
4. At present, the biosynthetic pathway related to flower color and fragrance of O. fragrans has been thoroughly analyzed. However, the single flower of O. fragrans has a very short flowering period and weak cold resistance, and it is difficult to cultivate in the north of the Yangtze River, which limits its beautification and fragrance functions. How to cultivate new O. fragrans varieties with long flowering period and strong cold resistance is a long-term topic in the future. The author summarized a large number of genes related to flower color and fragrance, and should further discuss the factors that restrict the development of gene cloning and genetic transformation of O. fragrans. It points out the direction for studying new varieties in the future.
5. At the end of the paper, in addition to a brief summary of the current research situation, a lot of discussions should be made on the future research direction. At present, studies have been made to reveal the complex regulatory network of the synthesis and metabolism of Osmanthus flowers and fragrances by combining high-throughput genomics technologies such as genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, proteomics and metabolomics, as well as the latest single cell omics and spatial omics. At the same time, with the establishment of tissue culture system of O. fragrans, the continuous improvement of genetic transformation technology and genome editing technology represented by CRISPR/CAS9, whether it can be widely used in O. fragrans should also be discussed and prospected;
6. The Latin name of the same plant should be abbreviated when it appears again. For example, Line 19, 28 and 320 "Osmanthus fragrans" has no abbreviation;
7. Reference Line399-409 should be deleted.
Author Response
Forests
Manuscript ID: forests-2420929
Title: Recent advances in flower color and fragrance of Osmanthus fragrans: metabolites, gene regulation and valorization
This paper summarizes the research progress of the color and fragrance of Osmanthus fragrans, and has done a lot of summary work from the aspects of material composition analysis, gene regulation and characteristic identification. However, as a summary of the research progress on the color and fragrance of O. fragrans, the latest research technology is not grasped at the same time, which points out the future research direction for researchers. There is a big gap in this respect, and finally add discussion and prospect.
Response: Thanks for the recognition of this review and your sincere advice, your suggestion give us a clear direction for revisions, and we added a part of prospect in the end.
Point 1: The title is inappropriate. Although the full text mainly describes the contents of "metabolites, gene regulation and valorization", these three parts have no logical relationship and are not suitable for juxtaposition in the title. It is suggested to remove them.
Response 1: Thanks for your suggestion and we are sorry for the logical error in the title, after thorough consideration, we decided to take your suggestion.
Point 2: Figure 1. The latest related documents up to June 2023 should be added statistically. In addition, through Figure 1, it is obvious that the number of literatures about regulating the color and fragrance genes of O. fragrans has increased in recent years, indicating that researchers have developed from physiological and biochemical stage to molecular research such as genetic engineering, and the significance of statistical related literatures should be clearly explained.
Response 2: Thanks for this tip, Figure 1 shows an error in year, we have redrawn a new Figure 1 to better explain the research of O. fragrans in last decade, indicating the molecular research has increased, at the same time, the related significance has been supplementarily explained in line 34-40.
Point 3: In the first part, the introduction of O. fragrans resources is too simple and basic. The origin, color, floral characteristics and long-term domestication history of O. fragrans should be described. At the same time, whether the external environment, such as humidity, light and temperature, has any influence on the formation of flowers and colors should also be briefly summarized in the introduction part.
Response 3: Thanks for your careful check, we expanded the introduction section, including the origin, color, floral characteristics, long-term domestication history of O. fragrans, and influence of the external environment to O. fragrans in section 1.1.
Point 4: At present, the biosynthetic pathway related to flower color and fragrance of O. fragrans has been thoroughly analyzed. However, the single flower of O. fragrans has a very short flowering period and weak cold resistance, and it is difficult to cultivate in the north of the Yangtze River, which limits its beautification and fragrance functions. How to cultivate new O. fragrans varieties with long flowering period and strong cold resistance is a long-term topic in the future. The author summarized a large number of genes related to flower color and fragrance, and should further discuss the factors that restrict the development of gene cloning and genetic transformation of O. fragrans. It points out the direction for studying new varieties in the future.
Response 4: Thanks for your advice, your comment provided us with many ideas, so we added a prospect section at the end of this review, and we decided to use the valuable topic you provide to prospect.
Point 5: At the end of the paper, in addition to a brief summary of the current research situation, a lot of discussions should be made on the future research direction. At present, studies have been made to reveal the complex regulatory network of the synthesis and metabolism of Osmanthus flowers and fragrances by combining high-throughput genomics technologies such as genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, proteomics and metabolomics, as well as the latest single cell omics and spatial omics. At the same time, with the establishment of tissue culture system of O. fragrans, the continuous improvement of genetic transformation technology and genome editing technology represented by CRISPR/CAS9, whether it can be widely used in O. fragrans should also be discussed and prospected;
Response 5: Thank you for providing fresh insights into this review, we have added these new thoughts to the section of prospect, it helps us a lot to improve the structure of the review and upgrade the level of research.
Point 6: The Latin name of the same plant should be abbreviated when it appears again. For example, Line 19, 28 and 320 "Osmanthus fragrans" has no abbreviation;
Response 6: Thanks for this, we've gone through the entire text one by one and corrected any duplicate names that were not abbreviated.
Point 7: Reference Line399-409 should be deleted.
Response 7: Thank you very much, this error has been corrected.
Reviewer 4 Report
The manuscript is repetitive in some places, but leaves out important details in others. For example, the description of pigments can be made shorter, but the description of studies in lines 228-233 and lines 278-280 should be expanded. Authors should review the use of the word “species” and “cultivars” throughout the manuscript. It is highly suggested that the authors detail the studies that are cited from Chinese abstracts. This paper will be the first time international readers see this new information, so it should be highlighted. Specific comments by line are below.
40: Replace “cultivar species” with “cultivars”.
42: Replace “species groups” with “groups”.
43: The word “florescence” is unclear. Do you mean flowering time?
43-48: What color are Asiaticus flowers?
65: This section is confusing, because you refer to several species of Osmanthus fragrans. Do you mean to talk about Osmanthus as a genus in this section? If so, rename the title “1.2 Osmanthus resource division” and begin the sentence, “Osmanthus are mainly distributed…”.
69: Change to say “There are 35 species of Osmanthus, two of which…”. Please be clear on the word species. Osmanthus fragrans is a single species with many cultivars.
73: Replace “O. fragrans” with “Osmanthus”.
78: Define “growth characteristics”. Do you mean that it’s not cold hardy?
150: A-carotene is mentioned twice. Perhaps you meant to include b-carotene.
157: Table 2 should appear before Figure 3 in the manuscript.
159: Remove, “referred to as flavonoids,”
193-195: This description of these two pigments can be removed, since O. fragrans does not have red-purple or red-violet flowers.
197: Please spell out gene names upon their first use.
199: Many readers are not familiar with these cultivars. Please describe the flower color for each one.
200: CCD should be spelled out here, not in line 207.
225: These genes or gene families should be spelled out upon first use.
228-233: These are interesting studies that international audiences will be reading for the first time. Please take some time to detail this study and what it found.
253: Do you mean they were thought to be separated in space?
258-266: Is this specific to O. fragrans? If not, you can leave it out. If so, please add some specific information related to Osmanthus.
278-280: What are the expression levels of the different flowering stages? Please add more details here.
339: Figure 5 A is confusing. It shows gene editing as part of the seedling industry, but gene editing was not mentioned in this manuscript. Please include a section on gene editing and craft trees, or remove the image from the figure.
374-376: Is there a reference for posttranscriptional modification? If so, please include it. If not, remove this section.
398-410: Remove reference template.
English language is very good. Please review the words "species" and "cultivars" and make sure they are used appropriately.
Author Response
Forests
Manuscript ID: forests-2420929
Title: Recent advances in flower color and fragrance of Osmanthus fragrans: metabolites, gene regulation and valorization
The manuscript is repetitive in some places, but leaves out important details in others. For example, the description of pigments can be made shorter, but the description of studies in lines 228-233 and lines 278-280 should be expanded. Authors should review the use of the word “species” and “cultivars” throughout the manuscript. It is highly suggested that the authors detail the studies that are cited from Chinese abstracts. This paper will be the first time international readers see this new information, so it should be highlighted. Specific comments by line are below.
Response: Thanks for your carefully scrutiny, and your comment give us lots of idea to improve this review. We have revised he question you posed below accordingly.
Point 1: 40: Replace “cultivar species” with “cultivars”.
Response 1: Thanks for pointing out that. All have been changed.
Point 2: 42: Replace “species groups” with “groups”.
Response 2: Thanks for pointing out that. All have been changed.
Point 3: 43: The word “florescence” is unclear. Do you mean flowering time?
Response 3: I'm sorry for the vague description, as you say, the word “florescence” means flowering time, and it has been revised all. Thanks for that.
Point 4: 43-48: What color are Asiaticus flowers?
Response 4: Thanks for your question, I'm sorry for neglecting to describe the color of the Asiaticus flowers, “it appears light yellow” being added in line 56.
Point 5: 65: This section is confusing, because you refer to several species of Osmanthus fragrans. Do you mean to talk about Osmanthus as a genus in this section? If so, rename the title “1.2 Osmanthus resource division” and begin the sentence, “Osmanthus are mainly distributed…”.
Response 5: Thank you for your kind attention, we have fixed the errors according to your comments in line 78-86.
Point 6: 69: Change to say “There are 35 species of Osmanthus, two of which…”. Please be clear on the word species. Osmanthus fragrans is a single species with many cultivars.
Response 6: Thank you for the reminder, I understand this, the modification in line 81.
Point 7: 73: Replace “O. fragrans” with “Osmanthus”.
Response 7: Thank you, the modifications have been made.
Point 8: 78: Define “growth characteristics”. Do you mean that it’s not cold hardy?
Response 8: Thanks for your suggestion, the ambiguous statement has been revised to“its cold intolerant growth characteristics” in line 90
Point 9: 150: A-carotene is mentioned twice. Perhaps you meant to include b-carotene.
Response 9: Thanks for that, the error has been corrected.
Point 10: 157: Table 2 should appear before Figure 3 in the manuscript.
Response 10: Thank you, the position has been adjusted.
Point 11: 159: Remove, “referred to as flavonoids,”
Response 11: Thank you, we’ve removed that.
Point 12: 193-195: This description of these two pigments can be removed, since O. fragrans does not have red-purple or red-violet flowers.
Response 12: Thank you for your valuable comments, we’ve made modification.
Point 13: 197: Please spell out gene names upon their first use.
Response 13: Thanks for your suggestion, the full name of the gene has been filled in.
Point 14: 199: Many readers are not familiar with these cultivars. Please describe the flower color for each one.
Response 14: Thank you for the reminder, the flower color of each cultivar has been described in line 200-209.
Point 15: 200: CCD should be spelled out here, not in line 207.
Response 15: Thank you for the careful check, it has been corrected. The full name of CCD is spelled out when it appears first in line 140.
Point 16: 225: These genes or gene families should be spelled out upon first use.
Response 16: Thank you for that, the full name of each gene has been added in line 235.
Point 17: 228-233: These are interesting studies that international audiences will be reading for the first time. Please take some time to detail this study and what it found.
Response 17: In this part, we added information on flower color and experimental results in line 235-243.
Point 18: 253: Do you mean they were thought to be separated in space?
Response 18: The upstream portions of the MVP and MEP pathways are independent of each other and cross each other through the intermediate substance IPP, this part has been revised in line 273.
Point 19: 258-266: Is this specific to O. fragrans? If not, you can leave it out. If so, please add some specific information related to Osmanthus.
Response 19: Thanks for your inspection, we’ve leave out this part.
Point 20: 278-280: What are the expression levels of the different flowering stages? Please add more details here.
Response 20: Thanks for asking, the details has been supplemented in line 291-293
Point 21: 339: Figure 5 A is confusing. It shows gene editing as part of the seedling industry, but gene editing was not mentioned in this manuscript. Please include a section on gene editing and craft trees, or remove the image from the figure.
Response 21: Sorry for my vague statement, we’ve added “In some applications in the seedling industry, gene editing has been used to advance or delay the flowering of O. fragrans, while at the same time giving different flower colors on a single plant during different growth periods.” in line 346-349.
Point 22: 374-376: Is there a reference for posttranscriptional modification? If so, please include it. If not, remove this section.
Response 22: Thank you for the suggestion, we decided remove it.
Point 23: 398-410: Remove reference template.
Response 23: Thank you very much, this error has been corrected.
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
As for the appropriate modification, I would suggest for acception of this manuscript, which would provide the overview of osmanthus flower color and fragrance to the ornamental academic peers.
Author Response
Forests
Manuscript ID: forests-2420929
Title: Recent advances in flower color and fragrance of Osmanthus fragrans
Reviewer #1:
As for the appropriate modification, I would suggest for acception of this manuscript, which would provide the overview of osmanthus flower color and fragrance to the ornamental academic peers.
Response: We thanks very much for your support and affirmations of this review. Your suggestion helps us a lot. Thank you again!
Reviewer 3 Report
1. Finally, a part of the prospect is added, and the abstract part needs to be modified to reflect this part of the content.
2. Line39，"The significance of this figure is to understand", can be changed to "This figure is helpful to understand", it will read more smoothly and not stiffly.
3. Line257-259, it is easy to mislead the reader to cause the smell of flowers only these two substances, other substances are not the main but also need to be mentioned. In addition, please explain why these two are the main ones?
4. In the final prospect, it is understood that there are some achievements in the rapid reproduction of Osmanthus fragrans tissue culture. Please summarize the current research progress and cite relevant literature.
Author Response
Forests
Manuscript ID: forests-2420929
Title: Recent advances in flower color and fragrance of Osmanthus fragrans
Reviewer #3:
Point 1: Finally, a part of the prospect is added, and the abstract part needs to be modified to reflect this part of the content.
Response 1: Thank you for your correction. We have realized this and made revisions. We added “ In prospect，we look forward to using genetic research and high-throughput omics to analyze the genes related to the flower color and fragrance of the O.fragrans, and at the same time, we will hybridize and breed excellent O.fragrans varieties that are resistant to low temperature.” in abstract.
Point 2: Line39，"The significance of this figure is to understand", can be changed to "This figure is helpful to understand", it will read more smoothly and not stiffly.
Response 2: Thanks for your suggestion, we have changed the sentence in line 42.
Point 3: Line257-259, it is easy to mislead the reader to cause the smell of flowers only these two substances, other substances are not the main but also need to be mentioned. In addition, please explain why these two are the main ones?
Response 3: Thank you for pointing this，we have changed this to “The main components of most O.fragrans flowers include linalool, ionone, a small amount of alcohols, fatty acids and esters and other compounds, resulting in O.fragrans having a unique floral fragrance compared with other flowers, and the difference in the floral fragrance between O. fragrans varieties is mainly attributed to a small amout of terpenoids and fatty acids.” in part 3.1.
Point 4: In the final prospect, it is understood that there are some achievements in the rapid reproduction of Osmanthus fragrans tissue culture. Please summarize the current research progress and cite relevant literature.
Response 4: Thank you for pointing out our shortcomings. After reading the literature, we supplement the research progress of the tissue cultivation of O.fragrans, and the modification is in line 413-416.
