Effect of Exogenous Jasmonates on Plant Adaptation to Cold Stress: A Comprehensive Study Based on a Systematic Review with a Focus on Sustainability

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Regarding to our comments, please find the attached file.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The current manuscript needs some writing adjustments

Author Response

Comments 1: The current manuscript needs some writing adjustments

Response 1: Thank you for pointing this out. I have revised the four points you pointed out and updated text in the manuscript.

Comments 2: Often, I read the phrases ‘in this study’ , ' the findings of our study' and so.. which suggest that you conducted an experimental research. Did you perform an experiment or investigation, or did you write a review paper? It seems like the latter, so you should re vise how you use this term throughout the manuscript.

Response 2: Thanks for your advice, I have replaced all references to “study” or “findings” with “review” and updated text in the manuscript.

Comments 3: The research you cited it deals with enzymatic antioxidants only. Besides this cited research, you can also put and cite the following researches because they combine enzy matic and non-enzymatic antioxidants as well as recently published in 2023 and 2024 in MDPI: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/14/4/797 https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/1 3/3/587

Response 3: Thanks for your suggestion, I have added the literature you recommended and updated text in the manuscript.

Comments 4: Clarify the abbreviation for the first time and then use it throughout the rest of the document. Do this note in manuscript.

Response 4: Thanks for your suggestion, I have explained Fv/Fm and replaced it in the whole text and updated text in the manuscript.

Comments 5: Are these your research findings or the results of previous scientists’ research? I b elieve they are the latter, so you should attribute these findings to them and cite their ref erences.

Response 5: Thanks for your suggestion. Now I have added the literature reference.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Review Effect of exogenous jasmonic acid on plant adaptation to cold stress: a comprehensive study based on Systematic Review by Pingping Li, Zhaolan Han, Delfina Chepkorir, Wanping Fang, Yuanchun Ma provides an analysis of data on the effect of jasmonate in experiments with plant acclimation to cold.

The manuscript is formatted according to the rules, but raises a number of questions both about the formulation of the problem and about the conclusions that do not correspond to the objectives.

Of particular interest is the use of only 23 sources on such a broad topic.

This is where the question of the novelty and legitimacy of the conclusions arises, despite the careful presentation.

So, let us quote the conclusion: In this study, the role of exogenous jasmonic acids (JAs) in plant response to cold stress was comprehensively examined through systematic evaluation and meta-analysis methods. It was found that jasmonic acid treatment significantly increased plant survival and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activity while inhibiting primary root growth, malondialdehyde (MDA) content, and catalase (CAT) activity. These results provide new perspectives for understanding the role of jasmonic acid in plant cold stress acclimation and provide a scientific basis for applying jasmonic acid in agricultural production.

What is the novelty of these findings and what distinguishes them from the findings of most of the vast pool of such studies? Where are the actual results of the method used by the authors? What did this method show that was new? There is no understanding. The only thing that distinguishes the article is the analysis technology, but the sample of (16)23 is critically small and does not take into account the diversity of conditions and plants. It is this sample that does not allow us to see the complexity of the approach used. After all, there are significant limitations to its application. Namely, what and how to take into account. But let's get back to the task at hand: The present study aimed to fill this knowledge gap by investigating the effects of exogenous jasmonic acid on plant cold stress acclimation through systematic evaluation and meta-analysis to address the following scientific questions (Fig 1): (1) How does jasmonic acid systematically affect cold stress response in plants? (2) What are the potentials and limitations of exogenous jasmonic acid applications in practical agricultural production?

These are questions that have no solutions.

The authors should formulate hypotheses and confirm or refute them, since meta-analysis, even like this (with an extremely limited sample), is mathematics. And there are no discrepancies here. Everything should be clear yes, no, and the range of reliability.

The methodology of analysis with such a small sample could be justified but conclusively. Namely, by showing a study on a sample of greater depth over 30-50 years.

In its current form, the work cannot be accepted and should be revised taking into account a clear formulation of the problem and specification of the result. Thus, it should either be shown that "water is wet" has been around for 50 years and all research is not new, or "that in recent years it has become clear that "water freezes and becomes wet when defrosted." This allegory shows that the main thing in scientific work is novelty and prospects, please format the article in compliance with these requirements.

Author Response

Comments 1: What is the novelty of these findings and what distinguishes them from the findings of most of the vast pool of such studies?

Response 1: Thank you for pointing this out. 1, exogenous spraying jasmonic acid on plants is really not an innovative scientific research topic, as you said the fable: “water is wet”, I am also stating that exogenous spraying jasmonic acid on plants is beneficial, then why is it beneficial? As you said in the fable, “Water freezes and becomes wet when thawed”, the ability of exogenously sprayed jasmonic acid to favorably withstand low temperatures in plants is by increasing plant survival and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activity, while inhibiting primary root growth, malondialdehyde (MDA) content, and catalase (CAT) activity, by affecting changes in enzyme activity in the plant, and by affecting changes in growth indicators to better resist low temperature stress, so I don't think I'm singling out “water is wet”, but I'm also demonstrating, based on Meta-analyses, exactly what physiological indicators are changing to cause “water is wet! “. 2. In addition, although the research question is not novel, we found through literature search that different researchers studying the same question in different environments may come to different conclusions, and through Meta-analysis of these inconsistent studies, we can come to a more representative and reliable conclusion based on a comprehensive consideration of various factors. So, I think this is the significance of meta review article. 3, this is a review, the review is mainly a synthesis of previous research, but the traditional review may simply summarize and describe the existing research findings. Meta-analysis is a more rigorous review method: Meta-analysis has a set of strict procedures in literature search. Instead of selecting a few articles at random, it tries to cover all relevant studies through a systematic search strategy. And specific search terms are applied to search the literature. This minimizes selection bias and ensures that the included studies comprehensively represent the current state of research in the field. Unlike a normal review, Meta-analysis assesses the quality of the included studies. This includes assessing the rationality of the study design, the accuracy of the data collection method, the representativeness of the sample, and many other aspects. Overall, Meta-analysis yields more robust and reliable results than ordinary reviews due to the use of rigorous literature search, quality assessment and statistical analysis.

Comments 2: Where are the actual results of the method used by the authors? What did this method show that was new?

Response 2: Thanks for your advice, The actual result is that the study mainly found that jasmonic acid improves the cold hardiness of plants through its effect on several key physiological and biochemical indexes, and also found that the outdoor experiments of the species where jasmonic acid is currently studied are limited, so it is recommended that the study of jasmonic acid be extended to a wide range of plant species, in particular, by combining indoor experiments with field experiments, in order to meet the needs of actual agricultural production.

Comments 3: The only thing that distinguishes the article is the analysis technology, but the sample of (16)23 is critically small and does not take into account the diversity of conditions and plants.

Response 3: Thanks for your suggestion, You mentioned that the amount of literature is insufficient, but the studies in the last five years may be more scientific and standardized in terms of study design, data collection and analysis methods, etc. The inclusion of such literature can help improve the overall quality of Meta-analysis and reduce the bias caused by the imperfect research methods in the early period. The results of Meta-analysis are closer to the frontier of the discipline and provide a more current reference for subsequent research. Therefore, I think it meets the requirements of literature screening for Meta-analysis.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Journal: Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050)

Manuscript ID: sustainability-3309231

Manuscript Title: " Effect of exogenous jasmonic acid on plant adaptation to cold stress: a comprehensive study based on Systematic Review"

·       After reviewing the entire submitted manuscript, it is difficult to say whether it is a review article or an article or a survey on the role of jasmonic acid in overcoming the negative effects of cold stress on plant growth and productivity. It would have been preferable to write an article review on the role of jasmonic acid in treating the negative effects of cold ester instead. It would have been preferable to write an article review on the role of jasmonic acid in treating the negative effects of cold aster on plant growth and productivity, focusing on some physiological and genetic measures that support this.

·       L12: “In this study” plz modify to “In this review”

·       L12, L68, L81,L149, L166, L179……: “we”, L72, …….: “our” Avoid using the personal enclosure throughout the manuscript.

·       L16-17: what do the authors mean by “solid medium?” plz explain.

·       L16-46: “peroxidase (APX) activity while inhibiting primary root growth, malondialdehyde (MDA) content, and catalase (CAT)” Why did the authors focus on the following physiological measures only, knowing that there are a number of other physiological measures that are affected by low temperature, and jasmonic acid has a role in alleviating its effects?

·       Choose expressive and important keywords, while not repeating any word mentioned in the title of the manuscript. Plz write the keywords in alphabetical order. Also, plz capitalize the first letter of each word.

·       In line 8: the authors abbreviated jasmonic acid to (JAs), while in line 29 they abbreviated it to (JA), so plz unify the abbreviations in the entire manuscript.

·       L38-40: “The antioxidant system includes metabolites such as ascorbic acid (AsA), reduced glutathione (GSH), and antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and glutathione reductase (GR)” Some of these terms have been previously abbreviated in the Abstract section, please write only the abbreviations accordingly.

·       L44: “Jasmonic Acid” previously abbreviated.

·       L49: “reactive oxygen species (ROS)” same

·       L56: “jasmonic acid” same. Plz pay attention to this comment in the entire review article.

·       Hypothesis of the work should be very clear at the end of the introduction part.

·       L68-72: “After screening 1014 articles, …… lish-language articles that met the requirements for our systematic evaluation” I think this part is not important, plz remove.

·       L168-171: “(JA) in plant cold tolerance include, in order of importance, Jasmonic acid (JA), malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), chlorophyll (Chl), catalase (CAT), electrolyte permeability, abscisic acid (ABA) and total phenol content (TPC), acid (ABA) and total 171 phenol content (TPC).” Some of these terms have been previously abbreviated in the Abstract section, please write only the abbreviations accordingly.

·       The results section lacks a connection between its different parts.

·       On what basis was the interpretation of the results based?

·       L478: “5. Conclusions” It is nothing but a repetition of what was written in the abstract. Conclusion needs more improvement and rewrite. Plz mention how the future study can complete your work. What is the lack of knowledge?

·       Plz use third person language throughout the manuscript. Go once through the manuscript language as there are some typos and writing errors.

 

·       The acronyms in the entire manuscript should be revised. 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The English could be improved to more clearly express the research.

Author Response

Please check the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript was improved as our comments, but revise the following two points:
1- The following comment did not answered correctly, carefully read it " Often, I read the phrases ‘in this study’ , ' the findings of our study' and so.. which suggest that you conducted an experimental research. Did you perform an experiment or investigation, or did you write a review paper? It seems like the latter, so you should revise how you use this term throughout the manuscript. "

2- line 38, the research you cited it deals with enzymatic antioxidants only. Besides this cited research, you can also put and cite the following researches because they combine enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants as well as recently published in 2023 and 2024 in MDPI:
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/14/4/797
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/3/587

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The current manuscript still needs some writing adjustments.

Author Response

Comments 1: The following comment did not answered correctly, carefully read it " Often, I read the phrases ‘in this study’ , ' the findings of our study' and so.. which suggest that you conducted an experimental research. Did you perform an experiment or investigation, or did you write a review paper? It seems like the latter, so you should revise how you use this term throughout the manuscript. "

Response 1: Thank you for pointing this out. This article is indeed a review, and I'm going to reword all the inappropriate descriptions in the paper to read “review.”

Comments 2: line 38, the research you cited it deals with enzymatic antioxidants only. Besides this cited research, you can also put and cite the following researches because they combine enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants as well as recently published in 2023 and 2024 in MDPI:
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/14/4/797
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/3/587

Response 2: Thanks for your advice, I have cited the literature you recommended: Glycine Betaine Mitigates Heavy Metal Toxicity in Beta vulgaris (L.): An Antioxidant-Driven Approach; The Promotive Effect of Putrescine on Growth, Biochemical Constituents, and Yield of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Plants under Water Stress

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript Effect of exogenous Jasmonates on plant adaptation to cold stress: a comprehensive study based on Systematic Review by

Pingping Li, Zhaolan Han, Delfina Chepkorir, Wanping Fang, Yuanchun Ma was edited, the authors made edits and eliminated some comments

My opinion is that this methodological approach is quite interesting, although not flawless.

I do not object to it being published.

I recommend the publication form - opinion.

Author Response

Thank you very much for your kind opinion and recommendation. We are glad that you find our methodological approach interesting despite its flaws. We truly appreciate your support for its publication in the opinion form. We will now follow the necessary procedures to move forward with the publication process.
Best regards

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

After reviewing the latest version of the attached work, I still see that it is considered a survey or analytical study of previous studies on the manuscript's subject and not a review article in the conventional scientific sense. I still stand by my earlier opinion not to accept the manuscript, but if the editor thinks otherwise, he has the final opinion.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The English could be improved to more clearly express the research.

Author Response

We sincerely appreciate the time and effort you have dedicated to reviewing our manuscript and providing your valuable insights. We understand your concern regarding the nature of our study not conforming to a traditional review article. However, we would like to clarify that our intention was to conduct a comprehensive analysis and synthesis of the existing research in this area, which we believe can contribute significantly to the understanding and advancement of the field. We respect your professional judgment and the decision you have reached. If the editor decides to consider our manuscript further, we are more than willing to address any additional questions or concerns and make any necessary revisions to improve the quality and clarity of our work. Thank you again for your feedback. Best regards