Grapevine Gene Systems for Resistance to Gray Mold Botrytis cinerea and Powdery Mildew Erysiphe necator
, Nadezhda Tikhonova 1,2, Yulia Ukhatova 1,2, Roman Ivanov 1 and Elena Khlestkina 1,2,*
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
- English language needs to be improved.
- References need to be included in the paper before publication.
- WRKY section was short.
Author Response
Thank you for your review. We will take into consideration your comments and will correct and supplement the manuscript.
Point 1: English language needs to be improved.
Response 1: Thank you, we will check the text and correct the mistakes.
Point 2: References need to be included in the paper before publication.
Response 2: Thank you. References were added with some dilay.
Point 3: WRKY section was short.
Response 3: Thank you. We will check and supplement the section.
Reviewer 2 Report
The authors in this review elucidates the main mechanisms of plant - pathogen interactions, the immune systems developed by plants, as well as the identified genes for resistance and susceptibility to the biotrophic pathogen Erysiphe necator and the necrotrophic pathogen Botrytis cinerea.
The topic is revealing and deals with an interesting issue in agriculture and disease breeding using new biotechnologies (cisgenesis / intragenesis and editing of genes). This is always interesting to provide information for the research community.
The introduction of the study is very well written, well-founded and integrated in the context of the study. In addition, at the end we can clearly identify the aim of this study. However, there is some important information missing in the introduction.
- Guignardia bidwellii – Phyllosticta ampelicida ,
the scientific name is Guignardia bidwellii (Ellis) Viala & Ravaz, 1892, also in Europe it is known by the first name. Phyllosticta is a synonym. Authors must cite both or add only Guignardia bidwellii. - The authors say: “ is most common in region with cool to moderate temperature”…
The source is not fully correct, since rather than cold, are the high relative humidity and moderate temperatures during the grapevine vegetative cycle favour the development of this fungal pathogen.
3. The authors mention that “Rainfall is not needed for disease”, better replace with this sentence: “High relative humidity is conducive to production of conidia. Atmospheric moisture in the 40 to 100 percent relative humidity range is sufficient for germination of conidia and infection. Free moisture, especially rainfall, is detrimental to survival of conidia”.
- The resistance mechanisms are well explained in Botrytis cinerea, however in Powdery mildew they are not so well explained. I miss that the authors don’t mentioned are ontogenic, or age-related resistance of the host to powdery mildew. Ontogenic resistance may operate at the whole plant level or in specific organs or tissues. Host defense, which conditions ontogenic resistance, is known to operate early in the infection process, in the absence of major anatomical barriers. Until recently, grape berries were thought to remain susceptible to powdery mildew (Erisyphe necator) until late in their development. However, the development of ontogenic resistance is actually quite rapid in berries, and fruit become nearly immune to after fruit set.
The discussion is rather poor; it mainly comments the importance of CRISPR/Cas9 targeted mutagenesis technology but with a very limited overview and comparison to the relevant literature. What are the future approaches? In conclusion, the manuscript is interesting, but I am left hungry for more critical discussions.
I recommend the acceptance of this manuscript for publication after considering minor revision. The authors should add in-depth Discussion furthermore and please add suggested comments
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.doc
