Screening and Application of Pseudomonas protegens from Municipal Sludge for the Degradation of 2,2′,4,4′-Tetrabromodiphenyl Ether (BDE-47) in Contaminated Soil and Water

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This study isolated a strain of Pseudomonas protegens from urban sludge and applied it to remediate BDE-47-contaminated water and soil systems. The work demonstrates substantial experimental effort and reasonable data analysis, providing meaningful insights into BDE-47 biodegradation. However, several issues require attention prior to publication. With minor revisions, the manuscript can be accepted:

1. The capitalization of the words in the title is inconsistent.
2. There are some mistakes in using full-angle punctuation, such as commas in line 44 and line 47, and the colon at line 140. It is suggested to check similar situations in the full text.
3. In “Materials and methods”, it is suggested to include the statistical analysis part. Any significance test being conducted? How many replicates of the sample are carried out? Similarly, how many replicates of the experiment are carried out for the confirmation study?
4. In “2.3 Acclimation of Pseudomonas protegens”, the procedure is described in repetitive terms, which gives the impression that it is unnecessarily lengthy. It is recommended that this section be condensed by (a) the removal of duplicated explanations and (b) the restructuring of the steps to emphasize critical transitions (e.g., substrate concentration changes) rather than repetitive transfers.
5. The abbreviations YP1 and YP-1 coexist, and it is suggested that the full text be unified after careful verification.
6. Section 2.5. Please provide explanations on the selection of inducers or provide the related reference.
7. The bacterial strain was identified as Pseudomonas protegens through the process of sequencing analysis. Nevertheless, the current phylogenetic tree in Figure 1(a) appears to be oversimplified and lacks sufficient resolution for proper strain differentiation. It is recommended that the existing tree be replaced with a distance-based tree. The rationale for this recommendation is twofold. Firstly, the distance-based tree would provide a more effective visualization of the genetic relationships. Secondly, it would provide more convincing support for strain identification.
8. Section 2.7 and 3.5. There is no negative control here, so it is suggested to provide sterile controls to illustrate the effect of biodegradation.

Author Response

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Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

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Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

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Round 3

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I think everything is perfect now and the paper is ready for publication