Asexual Epichloë Fungi—Obligate Mutualists
, Stuart D. Card 2, Katrin G. Hewitt 3, David E. Hume 2 and Linda J. Johnson 2
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear authors,
your work has a fundamental contribution to the field of pastoral agriculture and presents asexual Epichloe endophytes as an important contribution to worldwide agriculture.
Minor comments:
P4/L81: to present the four types of secundary metabolite compiunds, you should replace the dot with colon.
P9/L129-131: move 'Table 4' back to the sentence ('is summarised in')
References: It would be nice to add doi number, where available.
Author Response
P4/L81: done.
P9vailable./L129-131: done
For references doi number has been added where available.
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear Authors,
this is outstanding work. I like it very much.
I recommend it for publication.
The revised manuscript studies interesting interaction between Epichloë fungi which forms interesting associations with plants, mostly mutualistic. Nowadays, such plant-microbial/fungal interactions are of high interest as they are beneficial for agriculture and similar branches of activities. Endophytic microorganisms are known to promote plant growth by either (or both) producing plant growth promoting compounds (e.g. phytohormones) or/and antibiotics or similar compounds defending plants against unfavourable environmental conditions including pests/pathogens. For this reason this topic of endophytic interactions is very important and still one the top of interests. Discovering any new microorganisms, their interactions and mechanisms is of high interest and each new publication on these topics is wanted.
Revised manuscript is fits to above mentioned topics and for that reason I found it very valuable. It provides well organized summary about numerous studies on Epichloë interactions with grasses. In addition other fields of application are presented. For that reason I found the manuscript of high quality and novelty.
The manuscript is well organized, written with perfect English language, containing all required parts and presenting information in a concise way. All tables and figures are good and necessary. It is a good start for knowing better Epichloë and its possible applications. In my opinion it fits well to the aim&scope of Encyclopedia Journal - as I mentioned, it is a good point to start will knowing better Epichloë - like an encyclopedia record. It guides readers to specific references for deepen reading.
For that reason I scored it with the highest positive grade and found ready to be published in the present form.
Author Response
No changes requested
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
No further comments.
