Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

György Schneider et. al reported that bacteria with electrogenic potentials were isolated from mud samples and characterized for biofilm formation capacities and macromolecule degradation. The paper was carefully and thoroughly conducted. The authors used scanning electron microscopy to reveal the different adhesion potentials of isolates to the surface of carbon tissue fibers. The potential of the isolates for future MFC development applications was discussed. The manuscript is well-organized, the results presented are supported by the interpretations of the characterization results and overall this is a good paper that deserves to be published.

Author Response

Detailed Responses to Editor and Reviewers

Manuscript ID: Microorganisms - 2224531

Response to the Editor’s comments

 

We are very pleased to resubmit for publication the revised version of  “Isolation and characterisation of electrogenic bacteria from mud samples. ” (Microorganisms 2224531) György Schneider, Dorina Pásztor, Péter Szabó, László Körösi, Nandyala Siva Kishan, Penmetsa Appala Rama Krishna Raju, Rajnish K Calay to be considered for publication as an original article in MDPI Microorganisms. We are grateful for your positive opinion about our manuscript. We considered your comments hoping our revision has improved the paper to a level of your satisfaction.

Here we present your coments / answers in red, while we give our response in black.

 

Response to Reviewer #1 Comments

 

György Schneider et. al reported that bacteria with electrogenic potentials were isolated from mud samples and characterized for biofilm formation capacities and macromolecule degradation. The paper was carefully and thoroughly conducted. The authors used scanning electron microscopy to reveal the different adhesion potentials of isolates to the surface of carbon tissue fibers. The potential of the isolates for future MFC development applications was discussed. The manuscript is well-organized, the results presented are supported by the interpretations of the characterization results and overall this is a good paper that deserves to be published.

Response: Authors are grateful for the positive comments and supportive opinion. Thank You again!

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. György Schneider

Corresponding author

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Detailed Responses to Editor and Reviewers

Manuscript ID: Microorganisms - 2224531

Response to the Editor’s comments

 

We are very pleased to resubmit for publication the revised version of  “Isolation and characterisation of electrogenic bacteria from mud samples. ” (Microorganisms 2224531) György Schneider, Dorina Pásztor, Péter Szabó, László Körösi, Nandyala Siva Kishan, Penmetsa Appala Rama Krishna Raju, Rajnish K Calay to be considered for publication as an original article in MDPI Microorganisms. We are grateful for your positive opinion about our manuscript. We considered your comments hoping our revision has improved the paper to a level of your satisfaction.

Here we present your coments / answers in red, while we give our response in black.

 

Response to Reviewer #2 Comments

 

The extent of the work is beyond the state of the art (SoA) is good. As the scope of the research is clearly defined, any innovation beyond the SoA can be determined. The methodology to achieve the expected results is adequately explained. The interdisciplinary aspects are sufficiently considered. However Table 3. Capacity of the isolates to produce macromolecule degrading enzymes like protease, lipase and amylase is moderate discussed and should be explained properly to understand the final conclusión.

Response: Authors are grateful for the positive comments and supportive opinion. Based on your critic we have dedicated a session in the Discussion part where we tried to deepen the focus of recent publications. Here we present, the modified session (last part of discussion) and underlined the newly inserted sentences, while highlighted novel references with yellow:

Beside their electrogenic features, macromolecule degradation abilities of the isolates represented their potential applicabilities in MFC systems. Isolates with strong protease and lipase activities could be candidate members for anodic consortia in MFCs aimed to manage wastes from the seafood- and dairy industry [39]. The challenge is similar with high carbohydrate containing wastes where degradation of complex carbohydrates like starch is preferred [55]. Application of mixed isolates is suggested to be ideal to manage this challenge and increase the efficacy of MFC systems [56]. Overgrown biofilm structures, with multispecies compositions, however are not always ideal for effective electric power harvesting as the complex structure itself could increase internal resistance in MFC systems [57,58]. To avoid this problem, could be the application of low number of isolates, that not only having the capacities to produce moderate quantity of biofilm, but consists of bacteria with broad enzymatic spectra or targeting special wastes [39]. Considering these aspects the 11 different bacteria, like isolates 2, 3, 6, 7, 11, 12, 14, 16, 34, 38, 47 (Table 3) able to degrade all the three macromolecules can be ideal candidates for complex waste degradation processes and by that can also be good candidate consortium members for sludge and sewage management. Two of them (6 and 7) also have the capacities to form biofilms on carbon tissue, a typical anodic material of MFCs. A similar group can be also identified based on their strong proteolytic activities (4, 5, 26, 40, 44, 45, 48, 51) in our isolate collection that however could be applied to increase the efficacy of sytsems managing protein rich wastes [59,60]. Further studies will clear the above aspects like how effective these electrogenic isolates will be in real MFC experiments to degrade target macromolecules if applied alone and how the efficacy will be influenced if they will be present in different consortia with different biofilm forming abilities.

 

We hope that these revisions improve the paper such that you and the reviewers now deem it worth of publication in MDPI Microorganisms.

 

 

 

Dr. György Schneider

Corresponding author