Sugar-Induced Cell Death in the Yeast S. cerevisiae Is Accompanied by the Release of Octanoic Acid, Which Does Not Originate from the Fatty Acid Synthesis Type II Mitochondrial System

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This study aims to establish the presence and concentration of acetic acid (and/or other carboxylic acids) in the medium during the incubation of yeast with glucose, and estimate the role of OA derived from the FAS-II mitochondrial complex in the development of SICD. The manuscript may be accepted for publication after revisions.

1, The introduction section can be shortened. The significance of present work can be emphasized in the last paragraph of introduction section.

2, The “2.5. Gas chromatography” and “2.6. Mass spectrometry” can be combined into one section, and name as “Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis”.

3, Please provide some typical total ion chromatogram (TIC) of the GC-MS analysis in the supplementary materials.

4, Please check and revise the abbreviations. For example, “SICD (Sugar Induced Cell Death)” can be changed to “Sugar Induced Cell Death (SICD)”, the full name of “ROS” should be provided.

5, Please carefully check and revise the units. For example, “ml” should be changed to “mL”; the “rpm” can be converted to centrifugal force (g).

6, The quality (resolution) of figures can be improved.

7, Please carefully check and revise the chemical formula in the text and figures, for example, the “2 and 4” in “K2SO4” should be in subscript.

Author Response

Thank you for the detailed and exhaustive review of our manuscript.

1. The introduction section can be shortened. The significance of present work can be emphasized in the last paragraph of introduction section.
   1. Introduction shortened by over 200 words. At the end of the introduction, a phrase about the significance of this work is inserted.
2. The “2.5. Gas chromatography” and “2.6. Mass spectrometry” can be combined into one section, and name as “Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis”.
   2. Paragraphs 2.5 and 2.6 are merged.
3. Please provide some typical total ion chromatogram (TIC) of the GC-MS analysis in the supplementary materials.
   3. TICs for chromatograms with glucose in water, glucose in buffer, and with glucose in the presence of 150 mM KCl are shown in Figure S1.
4. Please check and revise the abbreviations. For example, “SICD (Sugar Induced Cell Death)”can be changed to “Sugar Induced Cell Death (SICD)”, the full name of “ROS” should be provided.
   4. Fixed.
5. Please carefully check and revise the units. For example, “ml” should be changed to “mL”; the “rpm” can be converted to centrifugal force (g).
   5. Fixed.
6. The quality (resolution) of figures can be improved.
   6. All figures are given in 300 dpi resolution.
7. Please carefully check and revise the chemical formula in the text and figures, for example, the “2 and 4” in “K2SO4” should be in subscript.
   7. Fixed.

Reviewer 2 Report

In this study, the authors aimed to establish the presence and concentration of acetic acid (and/or other carboxylic acids) in the medium during the incubation of yeast with glucose, and to estimate the role of OA derived from the FAS-II mitochondrial complex in the development of SICD. The authors analyzed the composition of the incubation medium and found octanoic acid (OA) but no other carboxylic acids.

The authors had do experiments step by step using S. serevisiae yeast strains. The authors conclude that OA synthesized in the mitochondrial FAS-II system and its derivative lipoic acid are not involved in SICD in yeast S. cerevisiae. Their experiments order and research plan are well described to explain each hypothesis.

 I will give some comments to improve the manuscript.

 1.       Please fix typo.

Line 139 some words are lacked.

Line 157, please fix the sub-section numbering.

2.       Materials methods section

The authors are cited few references in the section of materials and methods. When the authors referred previous research please cite previous references.

Author Response

Thank you for the detailed and exhaustive review of our manuscript.

1. Please fix typo. Line 139 some words are lacked. Line 157, please fix the sub-section numbering.
   1. Fixed.
2. The authors are cited few references in the section of materials and methods. When the authors referred previous research please cite previous references.
   2.Fixed.