Integrative Analysis of Metabolome and Transcriptome Provides Insights into the Mechanism of Flower Induction in Pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.) by Ethephon
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsComments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Thank you very much for taking the time to review this manuscript. Please find the detailed responses below and the corresponding revisions highlighted in the re-submitted files.
The manuscript presented by Lin and colleagues is generally well structured and the information presented represents valuable information regarding flower induction in pineapple.In my opinion, the manuscript could be suitable for publication, however, I have some comments and questions which I include here below:
The text contains a lot of grammatical errors and typos, for example, all species and genes names should be written in italics;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, the grammatical errors and typos were amended and all species and genes names were written in italics.
Methods and results are interesting but there are some unclear things, for example, the phenological stages sampled (shoot apexes or inflorescences) used for the analyses are not clearly defined, the same thing should be better defined in the abstract;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, the phenological stages were explained in abstract and methods.
As regard to the introduction, the flower induction part should be extended, for example, there is no reference to the effect of exposure to low temperatures, it should be discussed;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, low temperatures affected flower induction were added in introduction part.
Line 16: ‘four stages of flower induction’, please define the stages;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, four stages have been defined.
Line 19: ‘MBL_0d and MBL_8d, MBL_8d and MBL_18d, MBL_18d 19 and MBL_34d’, it would be appropriate to define the abbreviations;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, MBL was changed to BL, and have been explained in materials.
Line 39: change ‘involve’ with ‘involved’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘involve’ was amended to ‘involved’.
Line 45: change ‘there’ with ‘their’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘there’ was amended to ‘their’.
Line 49: change ‘study’ with ‘studies’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘study’ was amended to ‘studies’.
Line 59: change 'though’ with ‘through’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘though’ was amended to ‘through’.
Line 61: change 'released’ with ‘release’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘released’ was amended to ‘release’.
Line 81: change 'increase’ with ‘increases’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘increase’ was amended to ‘increases’.
Line 81: change ‘reduce’ with ‘reduces’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘reduce’ was amended to ‘reduces’.
Line 82: ‘Exogenous ethylene….were contributes to pineapple flowering’ there is an error that does not make clear the meaning of the sentence;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, this sentence of ‘Exogenous ethylene….were contributes to pineapple flowering’ was amended to be clear.
Line 102: change ‘significantly’ with ‘significant’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘significantly’ was amended to ‘significant’.
Line 105: change 'separation’ with ‘separated’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘separation’ was amended to ‘separated’.
Line 123: Figure 2C maybe you mean Figure 1C;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘Figure 2C’ was amended to ‘Figure 1C’.
Line 147: ‘the pineapple genome’, please indicate the reference genome;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, ‘the reference genome’ was added.
Lines 148-149: change 'revealed that a highly similarity among the three biological replicates have’ with ‘revealed high similarity among the three biological replicates’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘revealed that a highly similarity among the three biological replicates have’ was amended to ‘revealed high similarity among the three biological replicates’.
Line 150: add the space between ‘samples’ and ‘(Figure S4)’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, the space between ‘samples’ and ‘(Figure S4)’ was added.
Line 178: add ‘the’ to induction;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘the’ was added to induction.
Line 180: increase the quality of figure 5;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, the quality of figure 5 was replaced by higher quality.
Line 190: increase the quality of figure 6;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, the quality of figure 6 was replaced by higher quality.
Line 201: change ‘the’ with ‘The’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘the’ was amended to ‘The’.
Line 214: add 'the' to ‘floral meristem’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘the’ was added to ‘floral meristem’.
Line 236: ‘a total of 12 genes were randomly selected for qRT-PCR analysis’, it would be appropriate to choose and represent only the candidate genes;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, the qRT-PCR analysis have chosen the candidate genes.
Line 249: change ‘lead’ with ‘leads’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘lead’ was amended to ‘leads’.
Line 251: change ‘Ethpone’ with ethephon;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘Ethpone’ was amended to ‘ethephon’.
Line 252: remove ‘in’ before ‘pineapple’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘in’ was deleted.
Line 267: use a synonym for ‘are’, as play, show;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘are’ was amended to ‘plays’.
Line 270: change ‘showed’ wit ‘shown’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘showed’ was amended to ‘shown’.
Line 279: change 'level and decreased’ with ‘levels and decrease’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘level and decreased’ was amended to ‘levels and decrease’.
Lione 297: change 'its’ with ‘their’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘its’ was amended to ‘their’.
Line 300: change 'increased’ with ‘increase’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘increased’ was amended to ‘increase’.
Line 307: add ‘the’ before ‘early’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘the’ was added before ‘early’.
Line 309: change ‘initiate’ with ‘initiating’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘initiate’ was amended to ‘initiating’.
Line 348: change ‘inducing flower’ with ‘induce flowering’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘inducing flower’ was amended to ‘induce flowering’.
Line 349: ‘The shoot apexes or inflorescences were collected at 0d, 8d, 18d and 34d after ethephon treatment’, it is important to clarify at what phenological stage the treatment was done and also 1explain why these stages were chosen, and maybe define the stage of development of apices and inflorescences, preferably by adding a figure;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, we have explained these chosen stages and added a figure in materials part.
Line 351: ‘(0d and 7d)’, maybe you mean 0d and 8d;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘0d and 7d’ was amended to ‘0d and 8d’.
Line 352: ‘(Figure10)’, missing figure, please provide;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, Figure10 was added.
Line 356:’ The freeze-dried shoot apexes and inflorescences’, it is unclear whether they were sampled together or separately and at which stadium especially, please clarify;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, we have amended the information of sampled and specified the stadium.
Line 360: change ‘were’ with ‘was’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘were’ was amended to ‘was’.
Line 368: change 'following’ with ‘follows’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘following’ was amended to ‘follows’.
Line 372: remove ‘that’ before with;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘that’ was deleted.
Line 372: change 'interfaces’ with ‘interface’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘interfaces’ was amended to ‘interface’.
Line 388: remove ‘of’ before ‘sample’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘of’ was deleted.
Line 394: change ‘were’ with ‘was’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘were’ was amended to ‘was’.
Line 401: add ‘the’ before ‘pineapple’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘the’ was added before ‘pineapple’.
Line 426: remove ‘for’ ;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘for’ was deleted.
Line 427: change ‘Theses’ with ‘These’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘Theses’ was amended to ‘These’.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe MS describes an integrated effort to understand changes in metabolites and transcriptomic networks during pineapple flowering. Although the work is interesting, it needs to be extensively edited for scientific quality. Please find my comments below and underlined a few of the errors in the MS pdf
Line# 47 - please check the grammar in this sentence
Line # 55 - missing italics for Arabidopsis
Line 59 - 64 - Please check carefully for the typos
Line 60 - Cytokinin was mentioned as Ck and in Line 67 mentioned as CTK, please fix one
Line 104 - typos
The MS described MBL continuously but I couldn't find the abbreviation for MBL
Must improve the quality of Figure 1, Figure 2, and Figure 3. The quality could have been comprised while converting
Figure 4 - Please consider changing the DEG format, this format makes it difficult to assess the information
It would be better to improve the quality of all figures because of which it is difficult to asses
Besides, the MS needs to be thoroughly checked for the scientific language used and also should be corrected for typos and grammar
Most importantly the pineapple homologs of the genes should be written properly
Discussion and Conclusion can be improved, especially when discussing flowering pathways and their connection with metabolites
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Its given in the comments
Author Response
Thank you very much for taking the time to review this manuscript. Please find the detailed responses below and the corresponding revisions highlighted in the re-submitted files.
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
The MS describes an integrated effort to understand changes in metabolites and transcriptomic networks during pineapple flowering. Although the work is interesting, it needs to be extensively edited for scientific quality. Please find my comments below and underlined a few of the errors in the MS pdf.
Line# 47 - please check the grammar in this sentence.
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, the grammar was amended.
Line # 55 - missing italics for Arabidopsis.
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, italics for Arabidopsis was added.
Line 59 - 64 - Please check carefully for the typos.
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, typos were amended.
Line 60 - Cytokinin was mentioned as Ck and in Line 67 mentioned as CTK, please fix one
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, cytokinin was amended to CK in Line 67.
Line 104 – typos
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, typos was amended.
The MS described MBL continuously but I couldn't find the abbreviation for MBL
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, MBL was changed to BL, and have been explained in materials part.
Must improve the quality of Figure 1, Figure 2, and Figure 3. The quality could have been comprised while converting.
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, Figure 1, Figure 2, and Figure 3 were replaced by higher quality.
Figure 4 - Please consider changing the DEG format, this format makes it difficult to assess the information.
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, the format of ‘DEG’ was amended to ‘differentially expressed genes’.
It would be better to improve the quality of all figures because of which it is difficult to asses. Besides, the MS needs to be thoroughly checked for the scientific language used and also should be corrected for typos and grammar.
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, all figures were replaced by the high quality figures and the typos and grammar were corrected.
Most importantly the pineapple homologs of the genes should be written properly
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, the genes were corrected.
Discussion and Conclusion can be improved, especially when discussing flowering pathways and their connection with metabolites
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, discussion and conclusion were amended.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsIn my opinion, the manuscript is suitable for publication, however, I have some comments and questions which I include here below:
Line 13: write Ananas comosus in italics;
Line 49: change ‘inin’ with ‘in’
Line 54: change ‘girdling mediated’ with ‘girdling-mediated’;
Line 65: change ‘application’ with ‘used’
Line 77: change 'fruit’ with ‘fruits’
Line 86: remove one point in ‘..’
Line 99: change 'regulatary’ in ‘regulatory’
Line 112: change ‘offlower’ with ‘of flower’
Line 123: change 'totalof’ with ‘total of’
Line 124: add a space in ‘andBL’
Line 197: change ‘throughethephon’ with ‘through ethephon’
Line 194: there is an error in formatting the figure, it covers the text
Line 205: add a space in ‘calculatingFPKM’
Line 215: remove that before ‘that were’
Line 224-225: there is an error in formatting the figures, they cover the text
Line 226: add a space in ‘thebiological’
Line 338: add a spece in ‘ordecrease’
Line 341: change ‘plays’ with ‘play’
Line 355: change ‘decrease’ with ‘decreases’
Line 380: change 'were’ with ‘was’
Line 418: change ‘These suggests’ with ‘This suggests’
Line 428-429: ‘The stage of bract primordia (8d after ethephon 428 treatment) were collected that named BL_8d’, it is unclear;
Line 452: change ‘were operated’ with ‘was operated’;
Line 470: add a space in ‘wereemployed’;
Line 471: remove ‘with’ before ‘three biological replicates’;
Line 475: remove a space in ‘Trizolreagent’;
Line 504: change ‘conducted’ with ‘was conducted’.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.docx
Author Response
Thank you very much for taking the time to review this manuscript. Please find the detailed responses below and the corresponding revisions highlighted in the re-submitted files.
In my opinion, the manuscript is suitable for publication, however, I have some comments and questions which I include here below:
Line 13: write Ananas comosus in italics;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘Ananas comosus’ was write in italics.
Line 49: change ‘inin’ with ‘in’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘inin’ was changed to ‘in’.
Line 54: change ‘girdling mediated’ with ‘girdling-mediated’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘girdling mediated’ was changed to‘girdling-mediated’.
Line 65: change ‘application’ with ‘used’
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘application’ was changed to ‘used’.
Line 77: change 'fruit’ with ‘fruits’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, 'fruit’ was changed to ‘fruits’.
Line 86: remove one point in ‘..’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘..’ was changed to ‘.’.
Line 99: change 'regulatary’ in ‘regulatory’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, 'regulatary’ was changed to ‘regulatory’.
Line 112: change ‘offlower’ with ‘of flower’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘offlower’ was changed to ‘of flower’.
Line 123: change 'totalof’ with ‘total of’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, 'totalof’ was changed to ‘total of’.
Line 124: add a space in ‘andBL’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘andBL’ was changed to ‘and BL’.
Line 197: change ‘throughethephon’ with ‘through ethephon’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘throughethephon’ was changed to ‘through ethephon’.
Line 194: there is an error in formatting the figure, it covers the text;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, the format of figure was amended.
Line 205: add a space in ‘calculatingFPKM’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘calculatingFPKM’ was amended to ‘calculating FPKM’.
Line 215: remove that before ‘that were’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘that’ was delected.
Line 224-225: there is an error in formatting the figures, they cover the text;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, the format of figure was amended.
Line 226: add a space in ‘thebiological’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘thebiological’ was amended to ‘the biological’.
Line 338: add a spece in ‘ordecrease’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘ordecrease’ was amended to ‘or decrease’.
Line 341: change ‘plays’ with ‘play’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘plays’ was changed to ‘play’.
Line 355: change ‘decrease’ with ‘decreases’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘decrease’ was changed to ‘decreases’.
Line 380: change 'were’ with ‘was’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, 'were’ was changed to ‘was’.
Line 418: change ‘These suggests’ with ‘This suggests’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘These suggests’ was changed to ‘This suggests’.
Line 428-429: ‘The stage of bract primordia (8d after ethephon treatment) were collected that named BL_8d’, it is unclear;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, we have amended these sentence to be clear.
Line 452: change ‘were operated’ with ‘was operated’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘were operated’ was changed to ‘was operated’.
Line 470: add a space in ‘wereemployed’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘wereemployed’ was changed to ‘were employed’.
Line 471: remove ‘with’ before ‘three biological replicates’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘with’ was deleted.
Line 475: remove a space in ‘Trizolreagent’;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘Trizolreagent’ was changed to ‘Trizol reagent’.
Line 504: change ‘conducted’ with ‘was conducted’.
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, ‘conducted’ was changed to ‘was conducted’.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe revised version of the MS has improvements in the text version of the MS. However figures 2, 3, 4, descriptions are missing. Was this due to the Word to pdf conversion?
Besides the quality of the these figures shopuld be improved too
Several minor typos in the MS, please see to the attached file
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Minor editing of the MS required
Author Response
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
Thank you very much for taking the time to review this manuscript. Please find the detailed responses below and the corresponding revisions highlighted in the re-submitted files.
The revised version of the MS has improvements in the text version of the MS. However figures 2, 3, 4, descriptions are missing. Was this due to the Word to pdf conversion?
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, the descriptions of figures 2, 3, 4 were amended.
Besides the quality of the these figures should be improved too;
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, these figures were replaced by higher quality.
Several minor typos in the MS, please see to the attached file
Answer: Thanks for your comments, after carefully check, typos were amended.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
