Review Reports - Seaweeds as a Source of Functional Proteins

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript entitled "Seaweeds as a Source of Functional Proteins" addresses a relevant and appropriate topic for this journal.
However, this manuscript suffers from a lack of rigor in terms of the taxonomy of algae and does not comply with the rules regarding the copyright of the images used. Authors are invited to review the manuscript in order to correct these detected problems.

Corrections needed:

Table 1 -

Green algae: Ulva spp. (formerly Enteromorpha spp.), (Ulva australis (formerly Ulva pertusa)
Red algae: Eucheuma denticulatum (formerly Eucheuma spinosum), Gracilariopsis lomgissima (formerly Gracilaria verrucosa),
Brown algae: Postelsia palmiformis

Figure 1 - Authors must present the copyright for the images in this figure. All seaweed images are copyright protected by copyright law, so authors must present the written permission of the owners of each image.
The bibliographic reference [12] is incorrect.

The correct reference would be: Pereira, L. MACOI - Portuguese Seaweeds Website Available online: http://macoi.ci.uc.pt/ (accessed on 20 April 2022).

line 74/76 - Currently several protein-rich macroalgae, such as Ulva lactuca (Chlorophyta), Undaria pinnatifida, Fucus serratus (Phaeophyceae), Neopyropia tenera (formerly Porphyra tenera), Chondrus crispus, and Palmaria palmata (Rhodophyta) (17-44% of proteins), are ...

Table 2
Phaeophyceae (brown algae)
...
Ulva intestinalis (formerly Enteromorpha intestinalis)
Ulva australis (formerly Ulva pertusa)
Ulva pseudorotundata (formerly Ulva rotundata)
...
Gracilaria vermiculophylla

Table 3
Ulva australis (formerly Ulva pertusa)
...
Gracilaria vermiculophylla

line 180 - ... Gracilaria edulis (Rhodophyta), Padina gymnospora (Phaeophyceae), Ulva lactuca (formerly Ulva fasciata), and Ulva flexuosa (formerly Enteromorpha flexuosa) (Chlorophyta) ...

line 183/184 - Hypnea japonica, Hypnea charoides (Rhodophyta), Ulva lactuca (formerly Ulva fasciata) (Chlorophyta) ... and Palmaria palmata (Rhodophyta) (40.9–42.1%)

line 209 - ... Gracilaria vermiculophylla (Rhodophyta), and Ulva rigida (Chlorophyta)

line 210 - The most limiting amino acids in Ulva australis (formerly Ulva pertusa) and Ulva intestinalis (Chlorophyta) were lysine,

line 259/262 - In vitro digestibility (using multi-enzyme assay, pepsin, trypsin, and chymotrypsin at neutral pH) of Alaria esculenta, Fucus serratus, Fucus vesiculosus (Phaeophyceae), Ulva lactuca (formerly Ulva fasciata) (Chlorophyta), Palmaria palmata, and Asparagopsis taxiformis (Rhodophyta) were quite similar (0.77-0.82) [67]. The digestibility of Undaria pinnatifida (brown) was recorded as 17% and 66.6% when using pepsin (acidic pH, 37°C) and pancreatin (pH 7.6, 37°C), respectively ... (Note: "in vitro" and or "in vivo" must be written in italics)

Table 5
Ulva australis (formerly Ulva pertusa) (green)
...
Sargassum fusiforme (formerly Hizikia fusiformis) (brown)

line 282 - ... and Gracilariopsis longissima (formerly Gracilaria verrucosa) ...

Table 6
Bryopsis spp. (green)
Gracilariopsis lemaneiformis (red)
Mazzaella japonica (red)
Neopyropia yezoensis (formerly Porphyra yezoensis) (red)
Palmaria palmata (dulse) (red)
Porphyra dioica (red)
Pyropia columbina (formerly Porphyra columbina) (red)
Saccharina longicruris (formerly Laminaria longicruris) (brown)
Sargassum pallidum (brown)
Sargassum thunbergii (brown)
Ulva rigida (green)
Undaria pinnatifida (brown)
Boodlea coacta (green), Griffithsia spp. (red)
Caulerpa cupressoides (green)
Codium fragile (green), Eucheuma serra (red)
Mimica amakusaensis (formerly Eucheuma amakusaense) (red), Ulva spp (green)
Neopyropia yezoensis (formerly Porphyra yezoensis) (red)
Saccharina angustata (formerly Laminaria angustata) (brown), Chondria armata (red)
Chondrus crispus, Gelidium pusillum, Dasysiphonia japonica (formerly Heterosiphonia japonica), Palmaria palmata (red)
Gracilaria tikvahiae, Palmaria palmata (red)

line 420/423 - ACE inhibitory peptides have also been reported in Pyropia columbina (formerly Porphyra columbina), Palmaria palmata, Neopyropia tenera (formerly Porphyra tenera), Neopyropia yezoensis (formerly Porphyra yezoensis, Solieria chordalis, Mazzaella japonica (Rhodophyta), Sargassum fusiforme (formerly Hizikia fusiformis, Undaria pinnatifida (Phaeophyceae), Ulva prolifera (formerly Enteromorpha prolifera), and Ulva intestinalis (Chlorophyta) ...

line 467/469 - including Scytosiphon lomentaria [146], Ecklonia cava, Sargassum coreanum (Phaeophyceae) [147], Palmaria palmata [48], and Pyropia columbina (formerly Porphyra columbina) (Rhodophyta) ...

line 471 - ... Neopyropia yezoensis (formerly Porphyra yezoensis), Gelidium pusillum, and ...

line 489/490 - Lectins have been found in red and green algae, such as Eucheuma spp., Solieria filiformis, Enantiocladia duperreyi, Pterocladiella capillacea, Gracilaria cornea, Gracilaria ornata, Bryothamnion spp., Mimica amakusaensis (formerly Eucheuma amakusaense), Ulva spp., and C. fragile (Chlorophyta) ...

line 498/499 - Lectin from red algae Alsidium triquetrum (formerly Bryothamnion triquetrum), Pterocladiella capillacea, Hypnea cervicornis, Solieria filiformis, and green seaweed Caulerpa cupressoides has been demonstrated ...

line 501/502 - The lectins found in Alsidium seaforthii (formerly Bryothamnion seaforthii) and ...

line 535 - ..., Gracilaria canaliculata (formerly Gracilaria crassa) [160], ...

line 557/559 - ... Neopyropia tenera (formerly Porphyra tenera), Gloiopeltis tenax, Gloiopeltis furcata, Gracilaria textorii, Gracilaria vermiculophylla (Rhodophyta), and Sargassum confusum (Phaeophyceae) contains a high amount of taurine ...

line 563/564 - ... and Gracilaria vermiculophylla, ...

line 576 - ... Digenea simplex ...

line 584 - ... has been isolated from Saccharina angustata (formerly Laminaria angustata), ...

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Many thank for your judicious recommendations which allow us to improve our manuscript.

Answers to recommendations are in attached file.

Best regards,

on behalf authors,

Othmane Merah

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

This review is an interesting and there are useful information about seaweed. I think these information are valuable for readers.

I suggest some points to improve the article.

Seaweed scientific names and those abbreviations.

Author listed many seaweeds, the first appear of cause written by scientific name and full spell; thereafter, how about to use abbreviation like line 579, Digenia simplex is D.simplex, and Chondria armada is C.armata (line 576). In line 584, C.armata return to Chondria armata. I think it is better to use abbreviation cause more easier to read.

Line 60, vitamin B9 is more famous as a folic acid.
Line 61, about antioxidant, If you can list concrete substance, it is more better.
Table3, The column protein, EAA is essential amino acid in line 138-139; however, NEAA is not mentioned. NEAA may be Non Essential Amino Acid, so please denote somewhere in Table 3. Moreover, I suggest the table 3 column and line exchange each other. A long seaweed scientific names are more easy to read horizontal line. This is also Table 4.
Line 192 equation (1), multiplication character is prefer to use “×” instead of asterisk.