Genetic Characterization of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici Populations from Different Wheat Cultivars Using Simple Sequence Repeats
, Chaofan Gao 1, Qiuyu Sun 2, Qi Liu 2,3, Cuicui Wang 2,4, Fangfang Guo 2 and Zhanhong Ma 2,*
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The manuscript (Genetic characterization of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici populations from different wheat cultivars using simple sequence repeats).
Comments to the authors
L34 Correct to the host
L35 Change to (could be helpful in designing).
L36 Diseases caused by Pst? Is it more than one disease cause by Pst?
L48 The use of cultivars that are resistant to Pst is the more effective, economical, and environmentally sound than what?
L58 Shape of pathogen populations, I think you mean affect the composition of pathogen populations.
L78 However, few studies have investigated the effect of the wheat cultivar on the population structure of Pst. I don’t agree with you, several studies were examined the effect of wheat cultivars on population structure of Pst even in China, please check the paper (Effects of Wheat Cultivar Mixtures on Population Genetic Structure of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Chu et al., 2021).
I wonder why the authors did not test the effect on Pst infections on wheat yield.
Please add a subsection about statistical analysis in the end of Materials and methods.
L206, L213 and L253 Write Pst in italic.
The survey of disease occurrence was done long time ago, why did not you do the survey this year or last year?
The discussion should be improved and all the results should be discussed.
The Conclusion is missing.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer:
We would like to express our sincere thanks to you for the constructive and positive comments. In the revised version, we have addressed all the comments raised by you. The point by point responses to your comments are listed as follows.
Point 1: L34 Correct to the host
Response 1: replace ‘host’ with ‘wheat’
Point 2: Change to (could be helpful in designing).
Response 2: change ‘could be useful for designing’ as ‘could be helpful in designing’
Point 3: L36 Diseases caused by Pst? Is it more than one disease cause by Pst?
Response 3: change ‘Diseases’ as ‘stripe rust’
Point 4: L48 The use of cultivars that are resistant to Pst is the more effective, economical, and environmentally sound than what?
Response 4: change ‘The use of cultivars that are resistant to Pst is the more effective, economical, and environmentally sound approach for the control of stripe rust’ as ‘In contrast to the use of fungicides, developing and growing resistant cultivars is consid-ered more economical and environmentally sound approach for the control of stripe rust’
Point 5: L58 Shape of pathogen populations, I think you mean affect the composition of pathogen populations.
Response 5: ‘Shape of pathogen populations’, and as you said, it is what affect the composition of pathogen populations.
Point 6: L78 However, few studies have investigated the effect of the wheat cultivar on the population structure of Pst. I don’t agree with you, several studies were examined the effect of wheat cultivars on population structure of Pst even in China, please check the paper (Effects of Wheat Cultivar Mixtures on Population Genetic Structure of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Chu et al., 2021).
Response 6: replace ‘However, few studies have investigated the effect of the wheat cultivar on the population structure of Pst’ with ‘Currently, several studies were examined the effect of wheat cultivars on population structure of Pst’.
Add ‘Recently Chu et al. studied the effects of wheat cultivar mixtures on population genetic structure of Pst. Their results showed that Pst genotypic diversities from resistant cultivars may be higher than or as low as those from susceptible cultivars but the frequency of the Pst dominant genetic group from the highly susceptible cultivar is generally higher than those from resistant cultivars’.
Point 7: I wonder why the authors did not test the effect on Pst infections on wheat yield.
Response 7: Thank you for your valuable advice. The evaluation of wheat resistance to Pst based on not noly symptoms but also yield losses. It is a pity that we did not consider it at that time.
Point 8: Please add a subsection about statistical analysis in the end of Materials and methods.
Response 8: We have added a subsection about statistical analysis
2.5. Statistical analysis
The analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the obtained data was performed with the software package SPSS v. 20.0 (SPSS Inc.). The least significant difference (LSD) at a 5% level of significance was used to compare the treatment means (disease index of strip rust among wheat cultivars).
Point 9: L206, L213 and L253 Write Pst in italic.
Response 9: replace ‘Pst’ with ‘Pst’
Point 10: The survey of disease occurrence was done long time ago, why did not you do the survey this year or last year?
Response 10: In order to evaluate the resistance level of five wheat varieties to Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, I think it is more appropriate to investigate the occurrence and severity of stripe rust before sampling.
Point 11: The Conclusion is missing
Response 11: Thank you for the suggestion. We have added a conclusion
In this study, we analyzed the population genetics of Pst from five different wheat cultivars in two different geographic locations. Significant differences in genetic diversity among Pst populations from different wheat cultivars were defected, whereas wheat cultivars did not significantly shape the population structure of the Pst populations. With the genetic characterization of Pst populations from different wheat cultivars in mind, framing control strategies should be emphasized on developing cultivars with non-specific and durable resistance that are effective against Pst.
Reviewer 2 Report
Compared to the version we evaluated earlier, the authors have significantly improved the manuscript. I consider that it can be published in this form, but I have the following observations:
There are 293 words in abstract, so it must be reduced according to Instructions for authors, to maximum 200 words.
Lines 42-43: China is one of the countries most affected by stripe rust epidemics.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer:
We would like to express our sincere thanks to you for the constructive and positive comments. In the revised version, we have addressed all the comments raised by you. The point by point responses to your comments are listed as follows.
Point 1: There are 293 words in abstract, so it must be reduced according to Instructions for authors, to maximum 200 words.
Response 1: Thank you for the suggestion. We have deleted and revised the contents in abstract.
Stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), is one of the most important fungal diseases affecting wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) worldwide. In this study, the genetic diversity and population structure of Pst isolates were analyzed using 15 microsatellite markers. Isolates were collected from five wheat cultivars with different levels of resistance from Yanting county and Fucheng district, Mianyang city, Sichuan province, China. The aim of this study was to investigate whether Pst populations were differentiated by wheat genotype or geographic origin. Seventy-six multilocus genotypes (MLGs) were identified from all 289 single uredinial isolates. In general, the genotypic diversity of Pst populations from five wheat cultivars in Fucheng was higher than that in Yanting. In addition, the genetic diversity was highest in the Pst populations from Mianmai 367, a cultivar considered to be highly resistant. Unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) phylogenetic tree, bayesian clustering analysis and minimum spanning network of the MLGs revealed two major genetic clusters based on geographical location. Greater differentiation was observed between the populations from the two sampling locations, than between the populations from different hosts in the same location. The results suggest that geographic and environmental differences could partially explain the genetic differentiation of Pst more than wheat genotype. This study provides novel insight into the interactions between Pst populations and their hosts. The results could be helpful in designing more effective management strategies for stripe rust in wheat production.
Point 2: Lines 42-43 China is one of the countries most affected by stripe rust epidemics.
Response 2: change ‘China is one of the most serious stripe rust epidemic countries’ as ‘China is one of the countries most affected by stripe rust epidemics’
