Chronic Gamma Irradiation Changes Phenotype and Gene Expression Partially Transmitted to Next-Generation Tomato Seedlings
, Jae-In Chun 1,2, Jin-Baek Kim 3 and Jin-Ho Kang 1,2,4,*Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Ms titled "Chronic gamma irradiation changes phenotype and gene ex- pression partially transmitted to next-generation tomato seedlings" by Seong-Min Kim et al. is an interesting issue presenting results on morphology level as well as transcript level of selected genes in M1 and M2 tomato plants upon gamma irradiation.
I have few minor suggestions to make certain parts more clear, marked directly in pdf file.
I suggest publication of MS after these minor corrections.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Ms titled "Chronic gamma irradiation changes phenotype and gene expression partially transmitted to next-generation tomato seedlings" by Seong-Min Kim et al. is an interesting issue presenting results on morphology level as well as transcript level of selected genes in M1 and M2 tomato plants upon gamma irradiation. I have few minor suggestions to make certain parts more clear, marked directly in pdf file. I suggest publication of MS after these minor corrections
Response: We appreciate that you suggested the publication of our MS with minor changes. Your suggestions marked in the pdf file were correctly changed in the MS file. The followings are your specific comments and our responses to them.
Comment: I would change "organic" to morphological and physiological level of plant organism (line 39-40 in the pdf file).
Response: We changed it to “morphological and physiological levels of plant organisms” (line 44-46 in the revised MS).
Comment: I guess this is photoperiod 16/8 h(light/darkness). Please clarify (line 126 in the pdf file).
Response: We rephrased “16 and 8h” to “16/8h (light/dark) with daily and nightly temperature 26°C and 20 °C”, which makes the sentence clear (line 130-131 in the revised MS).
Comment: Please consider to change this sentence to be more clear : .... under conditions of photoperiod 16/8h (light of intensity 250 umolm-2s-1/darkness) with daily and nightly temperatures 20 and 26°C, respectively, and relative humidity of 60% (line 129-130 in the pdf file).
Response: We changed the sentence to “photoperiod 16/8h (light of intensity 250 µmol m−2 s−1/darkness) with daily and nightly temperature 26°C and 20°C, respectively, and relative humidity of 60%” (line 134-135 in the revised MS).
Comment: I would add in title: Type I trichome density. It is strange to have Type I density and Type VI density on figures (Fig 1.)
Response: We changed “Type I density” and “Type VI density” to “Type I trichome density” and “Type VI trichome density”, respectively (Fig 1C, Fig 1D).
Comment: Same comment as above (Fig. 3)
Response: We changed “Type I density” and “Type VI density” to “Type I trichome density” and “Type VI trichome density”, respectively (Fig 3C, Fig 3D).
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript by Kim et al. reports the effectiveness of chronic gamma irradiation on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum 'Micro-Tom') seedlings by analyzing phenotyping and gene expression analysis of M1 and M2 plants.Overall, the manuscript is well-written, and the effectiveness of chronic gamma irradiation on tomatoes will significantly contribute to future breeding. However, I recommend providing more suggestions.
- 378-385; The authors mentioned IAA influences plant growth. When authors mention this, I recommend measuring IAA content or analyzing the gene expression level of IAA-related genes (Aux/IAA gene family, etc.). Could you measure IAA content? Or could you analyze the gene expression level of some genes?
- 427-428; The authors mentioned changes in the expression level of unidentified fruit shape-related genes. Could you analyze the gene expression level of those (SUN, OVATE, FASCIATED, and LOCULE NUMBER)?
Author Response
The manuscript by Kim et al. reports the effectiveness of chronic gamma irradiation on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum 'Micro-Tom') seedlings by analyzing phenotyping and gene expression analysis of M1 and M2 plants. Overall, the manuscript is well-written, and the effectiveness of chronic gamma irradiation on tomatoes will significantly contribute to future breeding. However, I recommend providing more suggestions.
Response: We appreciate your critical comments on our manuscript. The followings are your specific comments and our responses to them.
Comment: 378-385; The authors mentioned IAA influences plant growth. When authors mention this, I recommend measuring IAA content or analyzing the gene expression level of IAA-related genes (Aux/IAA gene family, etc.). Could you measure IAA content? Or could you analyze the gene expression level of some genes?
Response: We tried to show overall morphological changes caused by chronic irradiation to provide a basis for further research that will focus on specific mechanisms. In the discussion section, we mentioned several possible mechanisms, including IAA metabolism, to explain the growth reduction (line 324-328 and 331-335 in the revised MS). Although analyzing the relationship between IAA metabolism and impaired growth in irradiated plants would be an interesting topic for further research, we think that it is beyond our research scope in the current manuscript.
Comment: 427-428; The authors mentioned changes in the expression level of unidentified fruit shape-related genes. Could you analyze the gene expression level of those (SUN, OVATE, FASCIATED, and LOCULE NUMBER)?
Response: The fruit morphology detected in our study was unique and could not be found in lines carrying mutations on previously reported genes (e.g. SUN, OVATE, FASCIATED, and LOCULE NUMBER). Therefore, we speculated that changes in the expression level of unidentified fruit shape-related genes might be responsible for the abnormal fruit shape observed in our study (line 365-368 in the revised MS). However, we do not rule out the possibility that the combinational changes in the expression levels of previously-reported genes may trigger the unique fruit shape (this possibility may be related to your comment). As further studies, transcriptome analysis using fruits from irradiated plants in various developmental stages can provide which gene causes the unique peanut-shaped fruit in the irradiated tomato plants.
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
I appreciate your appropriate revisions and comments quickly.
There is no revision from me to your manuscript.
