Genome-Wide DNA Methylation and Transcriptome Integration Associates DNA Methylation Changes with Bovine Subclinical Mastitis Caused by Staphylococcus chromogenes

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The current manuscript entitled: Genome-Wide DNA Methylation and Transcriptome 2 Integration Associates DNA Methylation Changes with Bovine 3 Subclinical Mastitis Caused by Staphylococcus chromogens by Wang and colleagues investigated that, potential involvement of DNA methylation in subclinical mastitis caused by SC. The authors have employed high throughput NGS, bioinformatics and integration analysis to study the DNA methylation and transcriptome profiles of SC. The authors have concluded that abundant DNA methylation changes with possible involvement in regulating host responses and potential as biomarkers for SCM. The authors in this manuscript have done great job in studying analysis of transcriptome and DNA methylation. The authors have described the result and discussion section very meticulously.  The manuscript is well written.

Here are some minor comments:

1.some image fonts are little blurry.  (Fig.1)

2.The reference need to be rearranged by using Endnote.

Good

Author Response

The current manuscript entitled: Genome-Wide DNA Methylation and Transcriptome 2 Integration Associates DNA Methylation Changes with Bovine 3 Subclinical Mastitis Caused by Staphylococcus chromogens by Wang and colleagues investigated that, potential involvement of DNA methylation in subclinical mastitis caused by SC. The authors have employed high throughput NGS, bioinformatics and integration analysis to study the DNA methylation and transcriptome profiles of SC. The authors have concluded that abundant DNA methylation changes with possible involvement in regulating host responses and potential as biomarkers for SCM. The authors in this manuscript have done great job in studying analysis of transcriptome and DNA methylation. The authors have described the result and discussion section very meticulously.  The manuscript is well written.

Here are some minor comments:

1.some image fonts are little blurry.  (Fig.1)

Reply: Thank you very much for your suggestions. Figure 1 was a vector illustration in the form of SVG, which may not be very compatible for word. We now converted the figure 1 into bitmap with 600 dpi resolution (Line 148). Similarly, we updated figure 2, 3 and 7, which have similar problems. We hope this could give a better visual effect. Meanwhile, we also provide the original vector illustration in the form of PDF for each individual figure in case they are needed.

2.The reference need to be rearranged by using Endnote.

Reply: Thank you very much. Sorry about the double numbering of references. WE further checked the reference formats and updated the references using Endnote. Please do check.

Reviewer 2 Report

Wang et al. profiled the WGBS patterns and RNA-seq data of milk somatic cells from dairy cows with naturally occurring staphylococcus chromogenes. They demonstrated abundant DNA methylation level changes with possible incolcement in regulating host reponses and potential as biomarkers for staphylococcus chromogenes subclinical mastitis. This paper is easy to read, and the study is welldone. 

Only one concerns, The lengend of Figure3I seems deficent, please have a check. 

Author Response

Wang et al. profiled the WGBS patterns and RNA-seq data of milk somatic cells from dairy cows with naturally occurring staphylococcus chromogenes. They demonstrated abundant DNA methylation level changes with possible incolcement in regulating host reponses and potential as biomarkers for staphylococcus chromogenes subclinical mastitis. This paper is easy to read, and the study is welldone. 

Only one concerns, The lengend of Figure3I seems deficent, please have a check. 

Reply: Thank you very much. We updated a new version with complete figure. Please see line 253.