Association Analysis of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in the 5′ Regulatory Region of the IL-6 Gene with Eimeria tenella Resistance in Jinghai Yellow Chickens

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript [Genes-621998], entitled “Association Analysis of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in the 5' Regulatory Region of the IL-6 Gene with Eimeria tenella Resistance in Jinghai Yellow Chickens”, by Drs. Yu et al. reports findings on a direct DNA sequencing and SNP association study of chicken IL-6 gene in relation to E. tenella resistance.

This is a straightforward and yet interesting study. The analyses are moderately thorough, and the findings are supportive of the conclusions. Identification of genetic variants in association with economically important traits, including genetic resistance to diseases, is of critical importance in empowering genetic improvement by selection in animals. This merit goes a long way not only in benefiting the animal production industry but also the general consumers.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

       We are grateful for your recognition of our research, and your evaluation is the driving force for our future efforts.

Reviewer 2 Report

Change "molecular marker selection breeding" to molecular marker selection.  Line 70 - 72: how many chickens were in the infected group and how many in the uninfected group? Line 79: are -> were Line 86: what kit was used for ELISA? Line 97: Do you mean forward and reverse primers? Line 137: please add the full form of PIC Line 194, figure 2: how many samples did you use for qRT-PCR? Is the relative expression of IL6 in figure 2 the average of multiple samples? Line 205: with respect to using?

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

       We are grateful for your valuable comments, we have provided our responses in the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx