Xylella fastidiosa: A Glimpse of the Portuguese Situation
, Luís Serra 4, Ângela Martins 5,6, Isabel Cortez 1 and Patrícia Poeta 5,6,7,8,*Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The main problem with this review is that it is not focused on novel developments. It is unclear what sort of update it is, and it fails to include citations and comparisons to all previous important studies on pathogen biology, distribution, insect vectors, and epidemiology. To be eligible for publication, the work should be thoroughly redesigned and focused on novelties not covered in prior reviews of Xylella fastidiosa. Only EFSA publications are considered in the current text of the review, while research articles are largely ignored (particularly for insect vectors). Also, it appears to be a review updated for Europe (or possibly Portugal), although this is not stated in the title. There are numerous X. fastidiosa reviews that are not cited. Authors ought to provide original photographs and graphs for review (all but one photograph are from earlier studies). Overall, I couldn't see any advantages to publishing this review, neither for the scientific community nor for practitioners.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Authors present a highly current review on an economically significant crop bacterial pest, Xyllela fastidiosa, and its xylem sap sucking insect vector, Philaenus spumarius. The crop pest is globally distributed with serious outbreaks in Europe during the last years. Authors primarily focus on its current distribution in Portugal, but also cover in detail the biology of bacteria, vectors, and host plants as well as the entire infection process. Almost 120 references, mostly from recent years, demonstrate the topicality of the review. The manuscript is professionally written and needs only minor revision. At least in my PDF-file, the quality of the photos is not sufficient.
- line 148: delete the full stop before number 5
- line 157: use EU as before
- line 166 and others delete the hyphens
- line 227: composed of
- line 230 - 232: the sentence is unclear (not complete)
- line 307: give the ions in the correct notation with subscript numbers
- Table 2 Citrus: why here in lowercase letters and correct "chlorosis"
- line 384 and others: insert a space between number and unit
- line 443 and others: give all genus and species names in italics
- line 564: delete the full stop between parasitoid and eggs
- line 610: that
- Ref. 39 and others: give all paper title in uppercase letters.
Quality of English is good.
Author Response
“Authors present a highly current review on an economically significant crop bacterial pest, Xyllela fastidiosa, and its xylem sap sucking insect vector, Philaenus spumarius. The crop pest is globally distributed with serious outbreaks in Europe during the last years. Authors primarily focus on its current distribution in Portugal, but also cover in detail the biology of bacteria, vectors, and host plants as well as the entire infection process. Almost 120 references, mostly from recent years, demonstrate the topicality of the review. The manuscript is professionally written and needs only minor revision. At least in my PDF-file, the quality of the photos is not sufficient.”
The authors thank the reviewer's comments and suggestions to improve the present manuscript, which were duly implemented.
Specific comments:
- line 148: delete the full stop before number 5
Altered as suggested.
- line 157: use EU as before
Altered as suggested.
- line 166 and others delete the hyphens
Altered as suggested.
- line 227: composed of
Altered as suggested
- line 230 - 232: the sentence is unclear (not complete)
The sentence was clarified to: "Upon increasing the bacterial concentration, synthesis of the diffusible signaling factor (DSF) also increases, inducing the expression of adhesins. Those adhesins promote the subsequent formation of the first colonies on the inner walls of the xylem.”
- line 307: give the ions in the correct notation with subscript numbers
Altered as suggested.
- Table 2 Citrus: why here in lowercase letters and correct "chlorosis"
Altered as suggested.
- line 384 and others: insert a space between number and unit
Altered as suggested.
- line 443 and others: give all genus and species names in italics
Altered as suggested.
- line 564: delete the full stop between parasitoid and eggs
Altered as suggested.
- line 610: that
Altered as suggested.
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The authors have made improvements to the article within the constraints of maintaining the original text's consistency and structure.
