The Relationship between Endogenous Hormone Content and Related Gene Expression and Tillering in Wild Kentucky Bluegrass
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors1) Please check the spelling of the word "content" (lines 108, 109).
2) Gene names should be in italics (all text), as well as mutants (line 410) and species (line 563).
3) Please check the links (lines 124, 126, 129, 164).
4) Are these the well-known stages of tillering: prophase, peak, and anaphase? I found only one article with the prophase stage of tillering. I found the “maximum tillering (MT) stage” (doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-17109-y) – could you please use more commonly used terminology or write only days (56d, 76d, 96d)?
5) Did you have photos of different germplasms at different stages of tillering?
6) Line 184 “Duncan test for multiple comparisons.” – please add a predicate. Which test was used for pairwise comparisons? Lines 261, 239
7) Figure 1B - Are these different germplasms? Please indicate in the picture or in the caption which plant is in the photo. Which tillering stage is illustrated in Figure 1?
8) Please write what the asterisks in Figures 2 and 3 mean.
9) Line 18 “Kentucky bluegrass from Sunan, Qingshui, and Lanzhou were used to evaluate the influence of hormone and gene expression on tillering behavior” – but in Figures only Sunan and Qingshui. What about the third variety from Lanzhou?
10) Figure 4 - indicate the x-axis values.
11) Please indicate significant differences in Figures 5-7, S3, S4.
12) Where is Figure S2 (or S4)? Do Figures S1-4 illustrate the same information as in Figures 4-7?
13) Please add a scheme of tillering (maybe with different tillering stages) with your results about hormone content and gene expression — This will help readers better understand your results.
14) Line 365 — please delete one "yield" in "yield Kentucky bluegrass yield".
15) I recommend changing the title of the article a little to remove repetition. Instead of "The Relationship between Endogenous Hormone Content and Related Gene Expression and Tillering During the Tillering Stage in Wild Kentucky Bluegrass " write "The Relationship between Endogenous Hormone Content and Related Gene Expression and Tillering in Wild Kentucky Bluegrass"
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsIn this manuscript, Ha et al examined the relationship between hormone content with tillering in wild Kentucky bluegrass. The authors focused on hormone content in stems and roots, including auxin, zeatin (cytokinin substance) and strigolactone which are known regulators of tillering. Furthermore, they also examined expression patterns of several groups of genes related to hormone signaling pathway.
Overall, I found the manuscript difficult to read, often left wondering which information is most relevant and what conclusions the authors try to present. I have several comments and concerns:
1.In the introduction, line 63- 94, the authors provide lots of information regarding impacts of IAA, CK, SL and ZT on tillering. I found this paragraph lengthy and unnecessary, due to poor transition and plenty new genes introduced. I suggest to re-organize the paragraph or remove this paragraph.
2. In line 199-201, the authors described average values of 2.97 and 2.07 from Figure 1A. However, I found these values do not match their plots. Am I misinterpreting their results?
3. I often got lost when they described the results. They should make their conclusions really clear, without going over everything they have checked.
4.From their results in Figure 2, it seems that ZT is higher while IAA and SL are lower in Sunan compared to Qingshui, which is consistent with higher tillering values in Sunan. The authors also described that this is generally true in other organisms. In my opinion, it does not make sense then to calculate ratio of ZT to IAA or SL. Are such analyses necessary and justified?
5.In Figures 5, 6 and 7, there is no indication of statistics. Are any of these gene expression significantly different based on their comparisons?
6.The authors did not make it clear which statistic test they used for their analyses. They should indicate it in their “Data Statistics” section or in relevant figure legends.
Minor points:
1. The authors introduced lots of terms without explaining it, such as NAA in line 65, YUC in line 68, and many others. More information should be added when introducing new terms and names.
2. There are lots of typos, and should be checked and fixed. E.g. “Zn content” in line 218, 219; “n SL content” and “Suna” in line 231.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
