Regulatory Mechanisms of Retinal Photoreceptors Development at Single Cell Resolution

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

In this manuscript, the authors describe and compare the single-cell sequencing analysis photoreceptors development including the melanopsin retinal ganglion cells, and the development of the retinal organoid. The argument is very interesting, and the structure makes the manuscript easy to read and understand. The figures help understand the manuscript.

However, the grammar and sentence construction in the introduction needs to be improved because under current conditions they make it difficult for the reader to understand.

In addition, the authors should revise the definition of abbreviation throughout the text.

For example:

Line 66-67: The authors should define what “E” and “P” mean.  “Previous studies found that the RGCs appear firstly at E8, HCs, ACs and cones appear at E14, BCs, 66 Müller cells and rods appear at P0 in mice [17].”

Line 70: The authors should define “LIM”. “Buenaventura et.al used transgenic mice to overexpress LIM homeobox protein…”

Author Response

Dear Reviewer:

Thank you for your valuable comments. We have carried out detailed modification and inspection according to your suggestions.

Below is the reply one by one:

Point 1: the grammar and sentence construction in the introduction needs to be improved because under current conditions they make it difficult for the reader to understand.

Response 1: We have invited a native English-speaking colleague to polish our English grammar and sentence structure, and the revised version is in the newly submitted manuscript.

Point 2: the authors should revise the definition of abbreviation throughout the text.

For example:

Line 66-67: The authors should define what “E” and “P” mean.  “Previous studies found that the RGCs appear firstly at E8, HCs, ACs and cones appear at E14, BCs, 66 Müller cells and rods appear at P0 in mice [17].”

Line 70: The authors should define “LIM”. “Buenaventura et.al used transgenic mice to overexpress LIM homeobox protein…”

Response 2: We have checked the abbreviations throughout the text and make sure that the abbreviations have been defined and the gene symbols have been explained with official full name when they first appeared.

For example:

1. The line 66-67 has been corrected to “Previous studies found that the RGCs appear firstly at E8Embryonic day (ED) 8, HCs, ACs and cones appear at ED14, BCs, Müller glia cells and rods appear at P0Postnatal day (PD) 0 in mice.”
2. The complete sentence of line 70 is: “Buenaventura et.al used transgenic mice to overexpress LIM homeobox protein 4 (Lhx4) which was enriched in cones during early retinal development to observe the genesis of cone cells and the gene changes during this process at E14.5.” In this sentence, the LIM homeobox protein 4 is the official full name of Lhx4 in the NCBI database.

In order to make the abbreviations clearer, we made an abbreviation table attached to the article, as follows:

Abbreviations

At last, thank you again for your care and patience, and wish you a good health.

Reviewer 2 Report

In this manuscript, overview summarizes studies of photoreceptors development at single-cell resolution. 

In my opinion, the title of the article is not very good. It might be worth giving a more detailed title, for example, by adding the words "regulatory mechanisms" at the beginning or like

Authors need to refer to publications  after each statement: line 70 (after et.al.), line 74 (after BC), line 86 (after et.al.), line 118 (after birth), line 148 (after organoids), line 154 (after CCND1), line 159 (after analysis), line 169 (after primates), line 86 (after week 25), line 211 (after et.al.), line 228 (after et.al.), line 266 (after study). It is imperative to cite primary sources wherever appropriate.

Add «et.al.» after family at line 82, 267.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer:

Thank you for your valuable comments. We have carried out detailed modification and inspection according to your suggestions.

Below is the reply one by one:

Point 1: In my opinion, the title of the article is not very good. It might be worth giving a more detailed title, for example, by adding the words "regulatory mechanisms" at the beginning or like

Response 1: Thank you for your good suggestion. We have changed the title to “Regulatory mechanisms of retinal photoreceptors development at single cell resolution”.

Point 2: Authors need to refer to publications after each statement: line 70 (after et.al.), line 74 (after BC), line 86 (after et.al.), line 118 (after birth), line 148 (after organoids), line 154 (after CCND1), line 159 (after analysis), line 169 (after primates), line 86 (after week 25), line 211 (after et.al.), line 228 (after et.al.), line 266 (after study). It is imperative to cite primary sources wherever appropriate.

Response 2: We have inserted the references according to your suggestion and checked the full text to make sure there are no missing references.

1. We have inserted references to line 118 (after birth), line 171 (after week 25), line 169 (after primates) and line 266 (after study).We have inserted the references after Buenaventura et.al on the line 70, the Giudice et.al on the line 86, the Wang et.al on the line 211 and the Lu et.al on the line 228 which lies in the first sentence of the passage discussing one study to make clearer and more appropriate.
2. The three places on the line 74 (after BC), line 154 (after CCND1) and line 159 (after analysis) owned the same reference with the sentences before them respectively.

Point 3: Add «et.al.» after family at line 82, 267.

Response 2: We have added «et.al.» after the Buenaventura on line 82, Buenaventura on the line 266 and Giudice on the line 267.

At last, thank you again for your care and patience, and wish you a good health.