Drought and Salinity Tolerance of the PtWRKY33 Gene in Populus

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

In this manuscript, the authors showed use of the WRKY transcription factors in cloning and expression in Populus euphratica, Populus euphratica and Populus silver; and effectively showed its influence on drought and salt stress. Moreover, it found that NaCl and NaHCO3 could induce expression of the NtSOD1 and NtAPX2 genes. Additionally, overexpression of the PtWRKY33 gene in tobacco improved the antioxidant capacity and tolerance to salinity stress.

Overall, the report is scientifically valid, and the presented results provide significant support for expressing the PtWRKY33 gene and its role in improving drought, salinity tolerance, and redox improvement.

Some comments:

1. Figure 1 caption—please elaborate on the figure caption and explain the vector map for the expression of WRKY and other marker genes in detail.

2. Authors need to improve statistical analysis, provide statistical results in abstract conclusions, and compare it with other reference literature.

3. Line 72-73: Authors should avoid writing single-line paragraphs.

4. For all Figures—elaborate the captions and describe the outcome in captions.

5. Figure 6,7,8—describe which plant was used for the stress analysis

6. There are too many single figures. Many figures could be combined for better explanations and easy to read. I suggest combining these 22 Figures into 6 to 7 Figures.

7. Authors could discuss some of the latest studies on this topic where—drought and salt tolerance are studied in detail. For example, see PMID: 35927945 and PMID: 36161329. I recommend a revision of the introduction and discussion to incorporate the latest studies.

8. Some of the figures could be moved to supplemental information.

 9. Provide future implication of the study on poplar cultivation and other crop species.

 

English editing is recommended for clarity and reorganization of the text.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.doc

Reviewer 2 Report

Article review

1. EVALUATION OF THE PAPER MANUSCRIPT

Tittle of the Manuscript:

"Drought and salinity tolerance of the PtWRKY33 gene in Populus"

Manuscript number: forests-2615941

 

 The article forests-2615941 performed a comprehensively functional characterization of PtWRKY33 gene from Populus. The tolerance of transgenic plants were then analyzed under drought (20% PEG6000 solution), high salt (150 mM NaCl), alkaline salt (NaHCO₃ 60 mM) treatments. The article forests-2615941 is slightly suited to the Forests as per aims and scope. However, to improve the quality of the article, some critical points should be noted:

   

- It is thought that 20% PEG6000 solution may cause the dehydration stress, which is slighly difference with drought stress. Please, explain the

- Please, carefully check the scientific names in the whole text.

- If possible, please carry out one treatment related to phytohormone, like to demonstrate the defense response process mediated by PtWRKY33 is ABA-dependent or ABA-independent.

- Please, carefully check the style of references.

 

 

 

Several minor grammatical and typographical errors have been found. Please, carefully check the whole text.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx