TRI14 Is Critical for Fusarium graminearum Infection and Spread in Wheat

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Line 480- 498 It is advisable to indicate in the work the influence of the basic principles of Fusarium head blight (FHB) infection, which have been studied by other authors (Bushnell et al., 2003). Wheat ears are most susceptible to infection during flowering (Sutton, 1982). p. Fusarium does not initially penetrate directly through the epidermis. Hyphae develop on the outer surfaces of inflorescences and glumes, towards the stomata and within the inflorescence (Bushnell et al., 2003). Hyphae can also form distinctive lobed structures between the cuticle and the epidermal cell wall on the surface of inoculated scales (Pritsch et al., 2000). Such subcuticular growth on the glume, floral glume, and glume, in the adaxial surfaces of flowers, likely results in cases of direct penetration of epidermal cells (Bushnell et al., 2003).

    Other routes of direct penetration include stomata and underlying parenchyma, partial or complete opening of anthers, openings between the lemma and the spikelet/floral (Bushnell et al., 2003; Lewandowski and Bushnell, 2001), and through the flower support and glumes of wheat, where the epidermis and parenchyma are thin-walled. Once inside the inflorescence, the anthers, stigma and lodicule of the plants become infected [RubellaS.goswami,(2004),doi.org/10.1111/j.1364-3703.2004.00252.x].

Author Response

Thans for the suggestions! Added the following about F. graminearum infection.

3. graminearum primarily infects wheat head through floral tissues during flowering. After infection, F.graminearum grows epiphytically on wheat plant surfaces, forming specialized unbranched hyphae (runner hyphae). The runner hyphae develop multicellular complex appressoria called infection cushions, which generate multiple penetration sites and assist the fungus to enter the plant cuticle (Boenisch et al. 2011). In addition, F. graminearum directly penetrates stomata and underlying parenchyma, opening of anthers and openings between the lemma (Pritsch et al., 2000). Once established, F. graminearum can spread to other spikelet on the same head by producing trichothecenes including DON and NX3.   

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript by Hao and colleagues “TRI14 is critical for Fusarium graminearum infection and spread in wheat” is of high interest, it brings new knowledge to the field of plant-Pathogen interaction and elucidates the role of TRI14 gene in F. graminearum pathogenesis. The manuscript is well-written and properly structured. Results are clearly presented and methods are described with all necessary details. Despite the Discussion contains some speculations the authors’ conclusions are supported with the obtained results. 

 

From my point of view, there are only minor points related to MS formatting and figure preparation.

Reference style should be adjusted according to the Journal requirements (numbers in square brackets) as now sometimes it “Author, date” format or numbers in round brackets

Font size should be unified (for example Lines 41-44, L. 98, etc)

Figure 1: panels A and B are not designated and it's better to replace A, B, C for predicted structures with some other symbols, because now the legend is confusing. As for models, the left one should be rotated counter clockwise so that beta-sheets are oriented the same way for all three models 

 

 

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

English is fine

Author Response

The manuscript by Hao and colleagues “TRI14 is critical for Fusarium graminearum infection and spread in wheat” is of high interest, it brings new knowledge to the field of plant-Pathogen interaction and elucidates the role of TRI14 gene in F. graminearum pathogenesis. The manuscript is well-written and properly structured. Results are clearly presented and methods are described with all necessary details. Despite the Discussion contains some speculations the authors’ conclusions are supported with the obtained results. 

 Thanks for the comments!

From my point of view, there are only minor points related to MS formatting and figure preparation.

MS was double checked with formatting and correction were made.

Reference style should be adjusted according to the Journal requirements (numbers in square brackets) as now sometimes it “Author, date” format or numbers in round brackets

Formatted. I downloaded MDPI ACS style from Applied microbiology website. Somehow It does not show round brackets but square brackets.

Font size should be unified (for example Lines 41-44, L. 98, etc)

Corrected

Figure 1: panels A and B are not designated and it's better to replace A, B, C for predicted structures with some other symbols, because now the legend is confusing. As for models, the left one should be rotated counter clockwise so that beta-sheets are oriented the same way for all three models 

Labeled A and B for main figures. The structure of FgTri14 was adjusted and three protein structures were labeled as a, b and c.

 

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Review

 

The manuscript “TRI14 is critical for Fusarium graminearum infection and spread in wheat” presented by the authors can be interesting for students and scientists dealing with fungal genetics, mycologists and when applied can be useful to reduce the distribution of disease invoked by Fusarium graminearum. This study has good novelty and big future when will be applied in agriculture.

The methods described well and are in accordance with results.

I recommend this manuscript for publication after correcting some minor mistakes:

 

Comments:

 

Lines 20-21. Please do not use italics for the whole sentence but just for Latin names of organisms or genes in “that TRI14 was highly induced in infected wheat heads. We demonstrated that TRI14 was not only required for F. graminearum spread but also important for initial infection in wheat”.

Line 23. “Designated” should not be in italics in: “(designated ∆tri14)”.

Line 98. “Sun Gro Horticulture” should not be written in bold.

Line 262. Please correct “BLATp” analysis to “BLASTp” analysis.

Line 279. The sentence is divided and part of it went down after word “dimensional” in:

“dimensional

                (3D) structures of selected Tri14”.

Line 328. Please correct “3.5(. tri14 has restricted” to “3.5. TRI14 has restricted”.

 

Line 359. Please correct “3.6(. tri14 has reduced” to “3.6. TRI14 has reduced”.

Author Response

Lines 20-21. Please do not use italics for the whole sentence but just for Latin names of organisms or genes in “that TRI14 was highly induced in infected wheat heads. We demonstrated that TRI14 was not only required for F. graminearum spread but also important for initial infection in wheat”.

 

Corrected

Line 23. “Designated” should not be in italics in: “(designated ∆tri14)”.

Corrected

 

Line 98. “Sun Gro Horticulture” should not be written in bold.

Corrected

 

Line 262. Please correct “BLATp” analysis to “BLASTp” analysis.

Corrected

 

Line 279. The sentence is divided and part of it went down after word “dimensional” in:

“dimensional

                (3D) structures of selected Tri14”.

Corrected

 

Line 328. Please correct “3.5(. tri14 has restricted” to “3.5. TRI14 has restricted”.

 

Corrected as: ∆tri14 has…

Line 359. Please correct “3.6(. tri14 has reduced” to “3.6. TRI14 has reduced”.

 

Corrected as: ∆tri14 has…