Genomic Features of the Bundle-Forming Heliobacterium Heliophilum fasciatum
, Kyleigh L. Williamson 1, Marisa H. Mayer 2, Mary N. Parenteau 2, Linda L. Jahnke 2, Paula V. Welander 3, Sophia A. Sanguedolce 4, Abigail C. Brown 4 and W. Matthew Sattley 4,*Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This manuscript describes genomic characteristics of a heliobacterium. The authors primarily performed standard genomic analysis procedures for carbon metabolism, nitrogen fixation and phototrophic feature.
It is hard to say the weakness: this is a smooth study and the objectives seem to be reasonable. Though the methods and contents are conventional and flat, as this is the first whole genomic report of Heliophilum fasciatum, so we can consider it reasonably new.
Author Response
The authors appreciate the very positive response from Reviewer 1 to our manuscript describing the genome of Heliophilum fasciatum. We thank the reviewer for his/her time and effort in confirming the quality and soundness of our work.
Sincerely,
Dr. Matt Sattley (for all authors)
Reviewer 2 Report
Please see attachment
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
We thank the reviewer for his/her time and effort in ensuring the quality and soundness of our manuscript and have addressed all of the reviewer's comments and suggestions in the revised version. Changes to our manuscript have been highlighted using red font for all modified text and include the edits listed below.
Page 7: Additional details (including a new citation) regarding the lack of sulfide utilization by Hph. fasciatum (and indeed its marked sensitivity to sulfide) have been added to the text at the end of the first paragraph of Section 3.3. Moreover, in the next paragraph, we now make it clear that "lac permease" refers to "lactate permease."
Page 15: Additional text and a corresponding citation have been added to clarify statements in reference to FlhE being unessential for swimming motility.
Page 16: The comma referenced by the reviewer has been removed, and the term "homology" has been replaced with "identity," which is indeed the proper term to use there.
Page 17: The reviewer's point is well made here, and therefore our concluding paragraph has been modified for clarity regarding a possible explanation for the unusual nitrogenase genes found in Hph. fasciatum.
