Non-Targeted Metabolomics Analysis Unravels Changes in Non-Volatile Metabolites in Folium nelumbinis (Lotus Leaf) Induced by Aspergillus cristatus-Mediated Fermentation

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

”Non-targeted metabolomics analysis unravels changes in non-volatile metabolites in Folium nelumbinis (Lotus leaf) induced by Aspergillus cristatus-mediated fermentation”  paper written by Wei Dai, Yumei Tan 2, Shengling He, Luona Zhou, Xiyi Ren, Yonghui Huang, Yongxiang Liu and Li Song, studies metabolomics of lotus leaves by A. cristatus induced fermentation and claims improved taste as revealed by taste assessments. On the first glance, it is easy to read the paper, hence the English language is mostly correctly used. Also, figures and tables are of satisfactory quality, except of Figure 6, which will be addressed within minor comments.

Major comment:

However, upon the topic novelty check, I have discovered several papers which were not cited, and which point out clearly that the topic of lotus leaves and their fermentation has been done already. Therefore, I recommend that authors include these references into their manuscript and partially rewrite it, to curve out  better the reason for their research, taking into account the very similar work that already has been done.

Missing references that are closely related to the current work:

1. The Manufacturing Process of Lotus (Nelumbo Nucifera) Leaf Black Tea and Its Microbial Diversity Analysis, Foods 2025, 14(3), 519; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14030519

 

2. Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.) Leaf-Fermentation Supernatant Inhibits Adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 Preadipocytes and Suppresses Obesity in High-Fat Diet-Induced Obese Rats, Nutrients 2022 Oct 17;14(20):4348. doi: 10.3390/nu14204348.
3. The third missing reference does not include lotus leaves; however it extensively deals with A. cristatus and reveals how its own metabolites differ when applying different starting conditions. Hence it is advisable to read it and understand how this knowledge can be beneficial in interpersonal current study results. Material Composition Characteristics of Aspergillus cristatus under High Salt Stress through LC–MS Metabolomics, Molecules, 2024 May 26;29(11):2513. doi: 3390/molecules29112513

Minor comments

1. Please amend Figure 6, so that text which appears in the heatmap can be readable by placing the horizontal version of the text and slightly increasing the font.
2. Please replace the word substantive with the term “substantial” in line 67.
3. Please check all references and remove “Error! Reference source not found.”
4. Please take care of statistical text explanations for Figure 2 and Table 2 as they are missing.
5. When I look at Figure 5 I cannot understand the legend…what does it mean 5 and and what 8… please secure that anyone at least with the scientific background can understand what it means blue colour and what orange…A Figure should always be a standalone story.

 

Kind regards

 

 

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Please refer to the Annex for specific comments.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors have markedly revised the manuscript, which can be considered for publication