Bioreactor-Based Liquid Culture and Production of Konjac Micro-Corm

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript critically examines the impact of cultivation parameters on konjac micro-corm production using plant tissue culture techniques. It presents compelling results with potential significance for large-scale bioactive compound production from Amorphophallus konjac. Despite a well-organized structure, the manuscript requires substantial improvements in experimental design, statistical analysis, and discussion sections.

Key recommendations for manuscript improvement include:

1. Abstract:
• Specify the precise unit for induced buds to ensure clarity and scientific precision (Lines 15-16).

2. Introduction:
• Replace "amplification" with more commonly used terms in plant tissue culture, such as "proliferation" or "multiplication" (Line 68).
• Explicitly highlight the novel aspects of this research in comparison to recent publications (Li et al., 2021; Mariani et al., 2024) in the introduction section.
• Provide a detailed rationale for selecting a spherical bioreactor, emphasizing its specific benefits for large-scale production. 

3. Materials and Methods:
• Clearly specify the SPSS version and statistical programs used for data analysis and mean difference comparisons. 

4. Results:
• Explicitly define control treatments for adventitious shoot, root, and micro-corm induction experiments.
• Include statistical analysis results in specified figures and tables (Figures 2f and 2g, Table 4, Figures 4b and c, Figures 5c, 5d, 5e, 5f, Figures 6b, 6d, 6f, Table 9, and Figure 8c).
• Consistently and accurately report units for:
• Bud number (Lines193-194, Line 210, and Line 382).
• Root induction (Line 231).
• Micro-corms number (Line 257, Lines 262-263, and Line 294).
• Correct chemical notation (e.g., KH2PO4) (Line 325).
• Clarify control treatments (Table 9) and comparative differences 

5. Discussion:
• Provide mechanistic explanations for:
• The reduction in bud number and fresh weight at high sucrose or plant growth regulator (PGR) concentrations.
• The impact of high PGR concentrations on root length and number.
• Ensure scientific nomenclature is correctly formatted (italicization of species names) (Line 424).
• Correct unit formatting (e.g., flavonoid content notation) (a -1 should be superscript). 

6. References:
• Verify and correct reference content (Reference 16)
• Ensure consistent italicization of scientific names (particularly references 31 (Line 593), 39 (Line 611), and 42 (Line 619)).

Author Response

Please see the attachment

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

1) The main question to the authors is about terminology. Why do you call the cultivation of adventitious shoots on a liquid nutrient medium a suspension culture? A suspension culture is a type of cell culture in which individual cells or small cell clusters are allowed to function and multiply in a shaking nutrient medium, thus forming a suspension.

2) All abbreviations (MS, NAA, 6-BA, etc.) must be explained when first mentioned in the text.

3) It is necessary to add the presence of BA in the captions to Figure 4, since cytokinin was added to this medium. Looking at the figure, everything should be clear without the help of text.

4) The data in Figures 2, 3, 4, 5 Table 4 were not processed by ANOVA. Moreover, it is indicated that a one-way ANOVA was used, but it is not clear which one. It is not clear which data differ statistically, at what levels of significance?

5) The diagrams in Fig. 5 are too small.

6) Lines 297 and 300: What is 0.03 PGR? How did the authors determine the content of endogenous PGR? This is not specified in the methods section.

7) Dear authors, what do you attribute the rapid growth of explants in liquid medium to, compared to solid?

It is necessary to critically study subparagraphs 4.1, 4.2 in the discussion, because the discussion is not a literature review, but first of all an analysis of one's own data in comparison with the results of other researchers.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf