Phytosterols Augment Endurance against Interactive Effects of Heat and Drought Stress on Biochemical Activities of Citrullus lanatus var. citroides (L.H. Bailey) Mansf. Ex Greb

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Make some modifications in the introduction in order to be clear and shorther

Use a grammatical connector to join ideas because, in some cases, it looks just like a group of sentences. 

 

Line 38-40: I think this idea should be developed in at least one small paragraph to give context to genetic variability.

Line 43-43: I consider that the idea remains the same in the two paragraphs, making it one.

Line 54-60: This section is the GAP of the research, I consider it should be the penultimate paragraph before the hypothesis.

Line 73: Change ROS

Lines 74-77: We only discuss one type of phytosterol, and above it, it is mentioned in general. The closing sentence of the paragraph indicates, "All this..." and it's just one. I suggest doing it in both ways. Either general ideas are left, or the role of each one is justified.

Line 79-81: This is clear with the objective.

Line 84-85: This information is not neccesary. That´s the purpose  of the research. 

Line 88-89: Check grammatical structure of the sentence

Line 135: space

Line 137. space

Line 148: subscripts

Line 211: space

Line 213: space

Line 329: freedom degrees

Table 8: I suggest to make in different table roots and cotyledons

Table 9:  Check the format of the table (size letters). Also, I consider challenging to understand the summary.  It's important to carefully check the PCA analysis because I understand that there is no variance and that the performance of the plants is linear.

Line 487: reference of the idea

Line 487-489; 497-498: The sentence is repeted

 

Author Response

The rebuttals have been uploaded as a PDF

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

This manuscript is exciting and interesting to the scientific community. The authors utilized comprehensive data sets to examine the morphological, physiological, and chemical characteristics of four citron watermelon genotypes under combined heat and drought stress. The data analysis is accurate, the scientific novelty is well-defined, and the tabular format is well-executed.

Abstract:

Water deficit and heat are the primary abiotic stresses affecting plants. We conducted in vitro experiments to investigate how citron watermelon seedlings respond to water deficit and heat, focusing on growth, water status, reserve mobilization, hydrolase activity, and metabolite partitioning, including non-structural carbohydrate availability, during the vulnerable stage of seedling establishment crucial for crop production. To reveal the involvement of phytosterols (stigmasterol, sitosterol and campesterol) in combined stress tolerance, four citron watermelon genotypes were investigated under varying osmotic potential [-0.05 MPa, -0.09 MPa and -0.19MPa] and temperature (26 °C and 38°C). Phytosterols were analyzed by gas chromatography−mass spectrometry (GC−MS). Seedlings subjected to osmotic stress from polyethylene glycol (PEG) exhibited reduced growth, linked to relative water content (RWC) changes, delayed starch mobilization in cotyle-dons, and decreased non-structural carbohydrate availability in roots. High temperature retarded the photosynthetic apparatus's establishment and compromised photosynthetic pigment activity and dry matter production. Results suggest that inherent stress tolerance in citron watermelon is characterized by increased accumulation of lipids, mainly sterols, especially in heat/drought-stressed plants. This study provides valuable information about metabolic response of citron watermelon to combined stress and metabolites

identified, which will encourage further study by transcriptome and proteomics to improve drought tolerance.

General observation: The abstract is written satisfactory.

Introduction:

Line 43 - Numerous studies have focused on the response of various crops to abiotic stresses, such as drought [3, 4], heat [5], and salinity [6-8]. To provide clarity, it is important to specify the crops being studied in relation to each stress, for example, the crop affected by drought, the crop affected by heat, and the crop affected by salinity. This will ensure that the statement is not ambiguous.

Line 44 - Most of these reports have primarily examined the influence of a single stress. To support this statement, it is recommended to include 2 to 3 additional references. It is important not to leave the sentence incomplete when using terms like "most" or "several." Please revise this sentence accordingly.

Line 43-48 - I suggest that the authors include a dedicated paragraph discussing abiotic stress, including factors such as heat, cold, drought, and salinity, among others. Additionally, please provide relevant references to support the information presented.

Line 49-53 - Once again, it is necessary to specify the names of the plants or crops affected by the different stresses before listing the references. Please include the botanical or common names of the crops for clarity.

Materials and Methods

Line 96-101 2.2.1. Water agar preparation please add the reference of this preparation.

Line 180 please add GC-MS heading before method.

General observation: I also didn’t find the GC-MS chromatogram peak and values. Why author didn’t mention the chromatogram image?

Line 203- showed significance are two words but authors combined them. Also, I find some words attached with round brackets. Please thoroughly revised the whole manuscript word by word and make these minor corrections.

Results

Line 224-225 In my suggestion author should change figure 2 and make analysis re-format it same as figure 3.

General observation: To better understand the mechanisms of plant response to abiotic stress, particularly salinity, heat, and drought, it is important to observe the phenomenon of electrolyte leakage. It would be beneficial to include a method, analysis, and figures related to electrolyte leakage.

Line 352 – 356 authors mentioned the results of the non-reducing sugars (NRS), but didn’t mention the figure number. Please modify this.

General observation: Also figure 4 is not clean and clear. I think the image pixel are compromised. If possible, please add clear figure with high dpi such as 300 to 600.

Line 363-364 Figure 4: Total soluble solutes (a-f), starch (g-l), non-reducing sugars (m-r) and malondialdehyde (s-x) of citron watermelon seedling axis (cotyledon, hypocotyl and roots) at day five after exposure to osmotic and heat stress. Why author didn’t show the significance difference on graphs bars such as; a, b, c or indicate by asterisk *, **, ***. Or ns- non-significance.

Overall, the Tables formatting is good in this manuscript.

Discussion

Is well written.

Conclusion

Is satisfactory.

General observation: This paper contains numerous full forms and abbreviations in the text. However, it is recommended that authors include a list of all abbreviations at the end of the text, before the references. This will assist viewers and readers in understanding the content of the manuscript more effectively.

References

Please double-check the format of the references. Some of them do not follow the journal format.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

The rebuttals have been uploaded as a PDF

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf