Biological Potential of Extremophilic Filamentous Fungi for the Production of New Compounds with Antimicrobial Effect

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The Manuscript by  Dishliyska et . al interesting and deserve publication since the topic has important possible applications. However, his review needs to be improved adding some missing part and uptating some dated information. The relative literature should be added.

In particular:

• The definition of the various groups/classes of microorganisms according to their adaptation to the environmental parameters (Temperature, salinity). Is definitely dated and does not correspond to the actual features showed by extremophilic microbes. Various more recent papers analysed this issue and supplied a more detailed classification.
• The introduction is somehow incomplete
• For example, I suggest to add more and detailed comments related to the misuse of antibiotics.
• It would be necessary to mention the "poly-extremophilic" microorganisms, which show very interesting features being adapted to various extreme conditions
• The description of the various antibiotic classes should be improved in particular for those acting against the bacterial cell wall. Also, section 6.4 and 6.5 must be improved
• Some typos are present  

See the enclosed PDF file for detailed comments and suggestions

 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

thank you for your advices and suggestions. We prepared a revised version of our manuscript following your recommendations. We appreciate your efforts and the time you spend! The changes in the text are marked in red. We sincerely hope that in its present form, our article is suitable for publication.

 

The Manuscript by  Dishliyska et . al interesting and deserve publication since the topic has important possible applications. However, his review needs to be improved adding some missing part and uptating some dated information. The relative literature should be added.

In particular:

• The definition of the various groups/classes of microorganisms according to their adaptation to the environmental parameters (Temperature, salinity). Is definitely dated and does not correspond to the actual features showed by extremophilic microbes. Various more recent papers analysed this issue and supplied a more detailed classification.

Replay: We added additional information on classification of extremophiles

• The introduction is somehow incomplete. For example, I suggest to add more and detailed comments related to the misuse of antibiotics.

Replay: We added the information and  improved the introduction

• It would be necessary to mention the "poly-extremophilic" microorganisms, which show very interesting features being adapted to various extreme conditions

Replay: We mentioned polyextremophilic microorganisms some times in the text.

• The description of the various antibiotic classes should be improved in particular for those acting against the bacterial cell wall. Also, section 6.4 and 6.5 must be improved

Replay: Thank you! We know that there are other antimicrobials acting against the bacterial cell wall - glycopeptides, fosphomycin, but unfortunately we did not find information on their production of filamentous fungi.

See the enclosed PDF file for detailed comments and suggestions

1.. suggest to expand this part listing some misuse antibiotics

Replay: We improved this part..

2. remove a space here

Replay: We removed the space

3. I suggest to treat this part in details. Also adding some specific figures could help to understand the impact of antibiotic misuse.

Replay: We treat this part more detailed. We added figure that we think will help to understand the impact of antibiotic misuse.

4. add literature citation here

Replay: We added the citation

6. I would mention also the piezophilic features of deep see microorganisms, which very often show poly-extremophilic features. Actually deep sea microorganisms are at least piezophilic and psychrophilic or thermophilic.

Replay: We added sentence and mentioned piezophilic microorganisms

7. add a reference hire

Replay: We added the citation

9. Please refer to more recent literature. Different class of fungi according to the their thermal preferences had been published in the last decades. Please revise the underlined text accordingly and add the relative references, if necessary.

Replay: We cited more recent literature.

10. see above

Replay:

11. Among them various authors mention the class/group of "mesophilic-psychrotolerant fungi" which better describe those organisms able to growth at low temperature (in the psichrophilic range, i.e. 5°C or below), but have the optimal growth at mesophilic values (30-35° C). Lot of these organisms have been found in very cold environments, such as Antarctica.

Replay: We added information about mesophilic-psychrotolerant fungi

13. Italic

Replay: We apply italic

14. It would be interesting to mention poly-extremophilic organisms, which recently has been showed to have very important potential applications due to multiple adaptation strategies

Actually, in marine environments various microorganism show adaptation toward two or more extreme conditions.

For example we can found:

Piezophilic & psychrophilic organisms,

Piezophilic & thermophilic organisms,

Piezophilic & halophilic organisms,

Replay: We added information on poly-extremophilic organisms

15. They produce the molecules that can be used in therapy, not the therapy

Replay: We improved the sentence

16. below

Replay: We corrected the word

17. other class of antibiotics can act on the cell wall: glycopeptides, fosphomycin and so on. Please mention them

Replay: We are agree glycopeptides, fosfomycin act on the microbial cell wall but we did not find information about fungal producers of those class of antibiotics.

18. this section are too short, try to be more exhaustive

Replay: We improve the sections 6.4 and 6.5

19. and waters

Replay: We accept the suggestion

20. also lot of bacteria. I would change fungi with microorganisms

Replay: We accept the suggestion

21. add citation here

Replay: We added citation

22. various studies on Antarctic (not only Antarctic) fungi and microorganisms in general show that there is a vast moiety of mesophilic-psychrotolerant of microbes, their features are more apt to cope with extremely variable conditions than those of strict psychrophilic ones, witch require stable conditions. They can produce lot of cold-active enzymes still active at temperatures close to 0

Replay: We improved the sentence

23. P.

Replay: We accept the suggestion

24. You should mention the maximum of temperature recorded for the microbial growth that is well above 100

Replay: We added information

25.you should mention also the polar desert areas such as the Dry Valleys IN Antarctica

Replay: We added information

 

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This manuscript provides a comprehensive review of the biological potential of extremophilic filamentous fungi for the production of novel compounds exhibiting antibacterial and antifungal activities. The writing in English is excellent. However, Several issues need to be addressed to enhance the overall quality and clarity of the manuscript.

（1）The abstract should be rewritten, as it does not provide the main information relevant to the theme of the article.

(2) In line 42-43, “Beyond clinical use, antibiotics have also played a pivotal role in food safety and public health. ”, the reference should be provided.

(3)In the introduction section, the author failed to present the background associated to antimicrobials produced by extremophilic filamentous fungi or emphasize the significance of why this area deserves attention.

(4) The section of “2. Antimicrobial resistance” should be  condensed to improve conciseness and clarity.

(5) It is suggested to supplement specialized diagrams illustrating the molecular structures of antimicrobial compounds derived from extremophilic filamentous fungi, along with schematic illustrations of their antimicrobial mechanisms.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

thank you for your advice and suggestions. We prepared a revised version of our manuscript following your recommendations. We appreciate your efforts and time you spend! The changes in the text are marked in red. We sincerely hope that in its present form, our article is suitable for publication.

This manuscript provides a comprehensive review of the biological potential of extremophilic filamentous fungi for the production of novel compounds exhibiting antibacterial and antifungal activities. The writing in English is excellent. However, Several issues need to be addressed to enhance the overall quality and clarity of the manuscript.

（1）The abstract should be rewritten, as it does not provide the main information relevant to the theme of the article.

Replay: We rewrite the abstract

(2) In line 42-43, “Beyond clinical use, antibiotics have also played a pivotal role in food safety and public health. ”, the reference should be provided.

Replay: We provided the reference

(3)In the introduction section, the author failed to present the background associated to antimicrobials produced by extremophilic filamentous fungi or emphasize the significance of why this area deserves attention.

Replay: We tried to improve the Introduction.

 (4) The section of “2. Antimicrobial resistance” should be  condensed to improve conciseness and clarity.

Replay: We think it is important to emphasize the importance of antimicrobial resistance, and we tried to improve the clarity of this section.

 (5) It is suggested to supplement specialized diagrams illustrating the molecular structures of antimicrobial compounds derived from extremophilic filamentous fungi, along with schematic illustrations of their antimicrobial mechanisms.

Replay: In the main text we cited references presented molecular structures of antimicrobial compounds derived from filamentous fungi . We added figure 3 in accordance with your recommendation,

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Although the author has revised this paper following the reviw comment, there still are some issues to be addressed.

 

(1) The abstract should be concise and emphasize the central theme of the paper, particularly enabling readers to fully understand the advancements of "antimicrobials derived from extremophilic filamentous fungi."

(2)The author is still unable to provide sufficient information related to antimicrobials produced by extremophilic filamentous fungi in the introduction section to highlight the importance of why this field merits attention.

(3)Authors should compare the antimicrobial agents with other conventional antimicrobial substances derived from normal microorganisms, emphasizing their advantages and more promising development prospects in detail.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Thank you for your recommendations and guidance to improve our article! It was very useful for us and our work.

Although the author has revised this paper following the review comments, there are still some issues to be addressed.

• The abstract should be concise and emphasize the central theme of the paper, particularly enabling readers to fully understand the advancements of "antimicrobials derived from extremophilic filamentous fungi."

Replay: Thank you for this recommendation! We had rewritten the abstract, and we hope that in its present form it will be more informative.

(2)The author is still unable to provide sufficient information related to antimicrobials produced by extremophilic filamentous fungi in the introduction section to highlight the importance of why this field merits attention.

Replay: Thank you for this recommendation! We added a new paragraph in the introduction section to highlight the importance of the review object.

(3)Authors should compare the antimicrobial agents with other conventional antimicrobial substances derived from normal microorganisms, emphasizing their advantages and more promising development prospects in detail.

Replay: Thank you for this recommendation! In the new information added in the Introduction, we emphasize the advantages of extremophiles' metabolites and their promising prospects.