Green Synthesis of Nanoparticles by Mushrooms: A Crucial Dimension for Sustainable Soil Management

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

I have critically gone through the manuscript entitled "Green Synthesis of Nanoparticles by Mushrooms: A Crucial Dimension for Sustainable Soil Management" and found interesting. However, below listed modification are suggestive in nature for better readability. 

1. The figure quality need to be improved as per the Journal standard.
2. The color pattern in figure 3 is not clear. Author should explain the way of interpretation or reason of different color use especially yellow.
3. Author should discuss the finding of the some more recent research providing their data and enrich the current manuscript. 

Author Response

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I have critically gone through the manuscript entitled "Green Synthesis of Nanoparticles by Mushrooms: A Crucial Dimension for Sustainable Soil Management" and found interesting. However, below listed modification are suggestive in nature for better readability. 

1. The figure quality needs to be improved as per the Journal standard.

Response: All Figures were uploaded in high resolution again, thanks!

1. The color pattern in figure 3 is not clear. Author should explain the way of interpretation or reason of different color use especially yellow.

Response: thanks, added as follow:

The main enzymatic system in mushroom species responsible for the bioremediation of organic environmental pollutants. Boxes with green color refer to enzyme category; grey boxes refer to enzyme class while small yellow boxes refer to enzyme name, while the big yellow boxes for explaining the mechanism of enzymes. Hydrolytic enzymes include hemi-cellulases and cellulases while oxidative enzymes include peroxidases and phenol oxidases, each enzyme class include a number of enzymes

In the revised MS from line 347 to 351!

1. Author should discuss the finding of the some more recent research providing their data and enrich the current manuscript.

Response: thanks, General discussion was added in the last section of the review!

We concluded all points in one drawn figure (Figure 4) in the end of the MS, as well! Many recent articles also were cited in the revised MS

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

This manuscript falls within the scope of the journal. However, I think that the manuscript will need revision before the work can be published.  

1. It is suggested to add a catalogue.
2. There are differences in the logical structure and title of the manuscript, so it is recommended to modify it.
3. Does mushroom itself have more advantages than disadvantages in soil regulation or does it have more disadvantages than advantages?
4. Will the treated mushroom spores (Synthesis of nanoparticles) affect soil remediation？
5. The relevance between nanoparticle repair and mushroom in Section 6 is not strong, so it is suggested to write more clearly.
6. There are many format and symbol problems in the paper, such as line 233, 261......
7. The content of Section 7 is very redundant and repeats with Section 6. In addition, what is the correlation between the content of Section 7 and mushroom nanoparticles?
8. The format of the form needs to be unified.

9. The manuscript needs to be polished by professionals.

Author Response

Reviewer 2#

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This manuscript falls within the scope of the journal. However, I think that the manuscript will need revision before the work can be published.  

1. It is suggested to add a catalogue.

Response, many thanks for your great comment, you are so right!

Any review article should start with table of contents,

Table of contents (the old one)

1. Introduction
2. Soil and mushrooms: a vital relationship
3. Green synthesis of nanoparticles by mushrooms
4. Soil and its sustainable management
5. Soil nano-management and mushrooms
6. Soil nano-remediation and mushrooms
7. Mushrooms for soil improvement

7.1 Controlling soil erosion

7.2 Improving soil aggregates

7.3 Increasing soil organic matter content

7.4 Enhancing bioavailability of soil nutrients

7.5 Resorting of damaged and polluted soils

8. General discussion
9. Conclusions

1. There are differences in the logical structure and title of the manuscript, so it is recommended to modify it.

Response, many thanks for your comment!

We modify the table of contents to be logic as follows:

Table of contents (the revised one)

1. Introduction
2. Soil and its sustainable management
3. Soil and mushrooms: a vital relationship
4. Mushrooms for soil improvement

4.1 Controlling soil erosion

4.2 Improving soil aggregates

4.3 Increasing soil organic matter content

4.4 Enhancing bioavailability of soil nutrients

4.5 Resorting of damaged and polluted soils

5. Green synthesis of nanoparticles by mushrooms
6. Soil nano-management and mushrooms
7. Soil nano-remediation and mushrooms
8. General discussion
9. Conclusions

1. Does mushroom itself have more advantages than disadvantages in soil regulation or does it have more disadvantages than advantages?

Response: thanks for your comment, mushroom cultivation and processing have several advantages as it consider an important source of single cell protein and spent mushroom playing a significant role as soil amendment in its contribution as a enzymes pool which possess unique properties to be used in agricultural and industrial sectors. On the other hand, some limited disadvantages represented in the allergatic reactions resulted from the inhalation of its spore beside the poisonous or toxic species, which may cause troubles for human health. We concluded these points in one drawn figure (Fig. 4) in the end of the MS!

1. Will the treated mushroom spores (Synthesis of nanoparticles) affect soil remediation？

Response: Mushroom biomass can be used in the synthesis of metal nanoparticles (Fig. 2), but the role of mushroom in soil remediation can be achieved by another way as mentioned in details in section 7. Soil nano-remediation and mushrooms. Mushroom can remediate polluted soil even in presence or absence of nanomaterials as listed in Table

No. 6.

Mushrooms can play a vital role in soil through the bio-nanoremediation especially under the biological synthesis of nanoparticles. These nanoparticles of metal or metal oxides could be used in the bioremediation process.

We concluded these points in one drawn figure (Fig. 4) in the end of the MS!

1. The relevance between nanoparticle repair and mushroom in Section 6 is not strong, so it is suggested to write more clearly.

Response: this section is re-arranged to be fit in the revised MS in the line from 419 to 450!

1. There are many format and symbol problems in the paper, such as line 233, 261......

Response: done, thanks!

1. The content of Section 7 is very redundant and repeats with Section 6. In addition, what is the correlation between the content of Section 7 and mushroom nanoparticles?

Response: based on the new Table of contents, this section was in the section 4

This section mainly for the improving soil quality using mushrooms by improving the soil aggregates, the soil content of organic matter and so on. The relationship between mushrooms and their biosynthesis was discussed in other section (no. 5)

1. The format of the form needs to be unified.

Response: done, thanks!

9. The manuscript needs to be polished by professionals.

Response: our colleague went through the MS and edited the MS!

Otherwise, the MS will be edited after the acceptance by the mdpi editing service, as well!

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The paper Green Synthesis of Nanoparticles by Mushrooms: A Crucial Dimension for Sustainable Soil Management extensively reviews a concept of bionanoremediation mediated by mushrooms. I find this review very interesting and deeply informative from the scientific point of view. Nevertheless, I have some suggestions for the paper quality improvement:

1. Improve the quality of all figures, especially Figure 1. Make the labels uniform in font and letter size;
2. Line 113: please correct eb to be
3. In Table 2 for the references 70, 75 an 77 change anti-microbial to antimicrobial, and also write antirenal without a dash (ref. 97)
4. Line 159: Please, rewrite the starting sentence, it is not clear what you wanted to say.
5. In paragraph 7.1. please be more specific and provide more information on the net formation from fungal hyphae and soil clumps described in references 132 and 162.
6. Although the paper is dedicated to synthesis of nanoparticles by mushrooms, I think it would be necessary to add a paragraph related to synthesis of nanoparticles by microorganisms. See the following studies:

Siavash Iravani (2014), Bacteria in Nanoparticle Synthesis: Current Status and Future Prospects, https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/359316

Lahiri et al. (2021), Microbiologically- Synthesized Nanoparticles and Their Role in Silencing the Biofilm Signaling Cascade https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.636588

     7. In paragraph 7.5. please explaine in more details the procedure of myco-remediation, myco-filtration, myco-pesticides and myco-forestry. Give some exact results from the mentioned references.

Author Response

Reviewer 3 #

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper Green Synthesis of Nanoparticles by Mushrooms: A Crucial Dimension for Sustainable Soil Management extensively reviews a concept of bionanoremediation mediated by mushrooms. I find this review very interesting and deeply informative from the scientific point of view. Nevertheless, I have some suggestions for the paper quality improvement:

Response: Many thanks for your so kind and encourage words!

1. Improve the quality of all figures, especially Figure 1. Make the labels uniform in font and letter size;

Response: Done, thanks!

1. Line 113: please correct eb to be

Response: Done, thanks!

1. In Table 2 for the references 70, 75 and 77 change anti-microbial to antimicrobial, and also write antirenal without a dash (ref. 97)

Response: Done, thanks!

1. Line 159: Please, rewrite the starting sentence, it is not clear what you wanted to say.

Response: Done, thanks!

1. In paragraph 7.1. please be more specific and provide more information on the net formation from fungal hyphae and soil clumps described in references 132 and 162.

Response: thanks, we added the required part in the revised MS from lines 197 to 204

And more already mentioned in the section of 4.2. Improving soil aggregates

1. Although the paper is dedicated to synthesis of nanoparticles by mushrooms, I think it would be necessary to add a paragraph related to synthesis of nanoparticles by microorganisms. See the following studies:

Siavash Iravani (2014), Bacteria in Nanoparticle Synthesis: Current Status and Future Prospects, https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/359316

Lahiri et al. (2021), Microbiologically- Synthesized Nanoparticles and Their Role in Silencing the Biofilm Signaling Cascade https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.636588

Response: a part about the role of other micro-organism like bacteria is added in the revised MS from lines 529 to 561

7. In paragraph 7.5. please explain in more details the procedure of myco-remediation, myco-filtration, myco-pesticides and myco-forestry. Give some exact results from the mentioned references.

Response: thanks for the comment!

A part was added in the revised MS in the line from 277 to 303

Forget refs. At already exist in the MS

Guo B, Wei C, Yu Y, Liu Y, Li J, Meng C, Cai Y (2022). The dominant influencing factors of desertification changes in the source region of Yellow River: Climate change or human activity? Science of The Total Environment 813, 152512. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152512

Zaki O, Weeker F, Thonart P, Tesch E, Kuenemann P, Jacques P (2020). Limiting factors of mycopesticide development. Biological Control 144 104220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2020.104220

New refs. Needed to add in the MS

Iravani S (2014). Bacteria in Nanoparticle Synthesis: Current Status and Future Prospects. Int Sch Res Notices, Article ID 359316, pp: 1 – 18. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/359316

Lahiri D, Nag M, Sheikh HI, Sarkar T, Edinur HA, Pati S and Ray RR (2021) Microbiologically-Synthesized Nanoparticles and Their Role in Silencing the Biofilm Signaling Cascade. Front. Microbiol. 12:636588. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.636588

El-Ramady, H.; Abdalla, N.; Fawzy, Z.; Badgar, K.; Llanaj, X.; Tör˝os, G.; Hajdú, P.; Eid, Y.; Prokisch, J. Green Biotechnology of Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus L.): A Sustainable Strategy for Myco-Remediation and Bio-Fermentation. Sustainability 2022, 14, 3667. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063667

Sudheer S, Bai RG, Muthoosamy K, Tuvikene R, Gupta VK, Manickam S (2022). Biosustainable production of nanoparticles via mycogenesis for biotechnological applications: A critical review. Environmental Research 204, 111963. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.111963

Srivastava, S.; Bhargava A. Biological Synthesis of Nanoparticles: Fungi. In Green Nanoparticles: The Future of Nanobiotechnology; Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd., 2022; pp. 101–137, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7106-7_6

Das BS, Das A, Mishra A, Arakha M. Microbial cells as biological factory for nanoparticle synthesis. Front. Mater. Sci. 2021, 15(2), 177–191. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11706-021-0546-8

Yadav P, Rai SN, Mishra V, Singh MP. Mycoremediation of environmental pollutants: a review with special emphasis on mushrooms. Environmental Sustainability (2021) 4, 605–618 https://doi.org/10.1007/s42398-021-00197-3

Boujelben R, Ellouze M, Tóran MJ, Blánquez P, Sayadi S. Mycoremediation of Tunisian tannery wastewater under non‑sterile conditions using Trametes versicolor: live and dead biomasses. Biomass Conversion and Biorefnery, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-022-02328-0  

Sharma KR, Giri R, Sharma RK. Efficient bioremediation of metal containing industrial wastewater using white rot fungi. International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-022-03914-5

Vaidyanathan VK, Venkataraman S, Kumar PS, Rajendran DS, Saikiaab K, Rathankumar AR, Cabana H, Varjani S. Mycoremediation of lignocellulosic biorefinery sludge: A reinvigorating approach for organic contaminants remediation with simultaneous production of lignocellulolytic enzyme cocktail. Bioresource Technology, 2022, 127012, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2022.127012

Kaewlaoyoong, A., Chen, J.-R., Cheng, C.-Y., Lin, C., Cheruiyot, N. K., Sriprom, P. (2021). Innovative mycoremediation technique for treating unsterilized PCDD/F-contaminated field soil and the exploration of chlorinated metabolites. Environmental Pollution, 289, 117869. doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117869

Rathankumar AK, Saiki K, Cabana H, Kumar VV. Surfactant-aided mycoremediation of soil contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Environmental Research, 2022, 209, 112926. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2022.112926

Arya A, Rusevska K. Biology, Cultivation and Applications of Mushrooms. Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6257-7

Sahithya K, Mouli T, Biswas A, Mercy ST. Remediation potential of mushrooms and their spent substrate against environmental contaminants: An overview. Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology, 42, 2022, 102323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcab.2022.102323

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript has made great progress after modification.

Minor modification

The first half of “7. Soil nano-remediation and mushrooms” is very redundant and must be streamlined. 

Line 497-514 “Compost derived from mushroom spent substrate could be ......” This paragraph should be rewritten to clarify the soil remediation functions of mushroom nanoparticles and mushroom by-products. Spent mushroom substrate and nanoparticle mushroom should not be confused.

Author Response

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript has made great progress after modification.

Minor modification

The first half of “7. Soil nano-remediation and mushrooms” is very redundant and must be streamlined. 

Line 497-514 “Compost derived from mushroom spent substrate could be ......” This paragraph should be rewritten to clarify the soil remediation functions of mushroom nanoparticles and mushroom by-products. Spent mushroom substrate and nanoparticle mushroom should not be confused.

Response: Done, thanks!

The paragraph is re-written and a comparison was added for more explanations in Figure no.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf