A Review of Botryosphaeria Stem Blight Disease of Blueberry from the Perspective of Plant Breeding

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

-        Title: change “Botryosphaeria stem blight” to “Botryosphaeria stem blight disease”

-        Change “natural resistance of blueberry species” to “natural resistance of Vaccinium species”

-        Change “V. virgatum Reade” to “V. virgatum Ait”

-        Italicized the Latin name in section “5. Resistance in wild and cultivated blueberry species”

-        Change “cultivar screenings” to “germplasm screenings”. Breeders usually screen a diverse collection of elite selections and cultivars

-        Line 250: Delete “and other management strategies against Botryosphaeria stem blight”

-        Line 252: change “on the same cultivar” to “on the same genotype”

-        Change “isolate × cultivar” to “isolate × genotype”

-        Line 258: change “varieties” to “cultivars”

-        Line 262: delete “fungal”

Author Response

Many thanks for your comments and suggestions. We found them quite helpful.

We have gone through each comment and adjusted accordingly.

- Title: change “Botryosphaeria stem blight” to “Botryosphaeria stem blight disease”.

The title was changed into “A review of Botryosphaeria stem blight disease of blueberry from the perspective of plant breeding”.

- Change “natural resistance of blueberry species” to “natural resistance of Vaccinium species”.

The Vaccinium genus includes blueberries, cranberries, and other crops. Here we only focus on blueberries. Therefore, we think it would be more accurate to say blueberry species instead of Vaccinium species.

- Change “V. virgatum Reade” to “V. virgatum Ait”

Thanks for noticing the error. We changed “V. virgatum Reade” to “V. virgatum Aiton”.

- Italicized the Latin name in section “5. Resistance in wild and cultivated blueberry species”

Thanks to pointing out the error. All genus and species names are italicized.

- Change “cultivar screenings” to “germplasm screenings”. Breeders usually screen a diverse collection of elite selections and cultivars

“Cultivar screenings” was changed to “germplasm screenings” throughout the manuscript.

- Line 250: Delete “and other management strategies against Botryosphaeria stem blight”

Suggested change was made.

- Line 252: change “on the same cultivar” to “on the same genotype”

Suggested change was made.

- Change “isolate × cultivar” to “isolate × genotype”

Suggested change was made throughout the manuscript.

- Line 258: change “varieties” to “cultivars”

Varieties were changed to cultivars in two places in the manuscript.

- Line 262: delete “fungal”

Suggested change was made.

Reviewer 2 Report

This is very good review on Botryosphaeria stem blight. It is very well organized and written. I have only very minor corrections and comments:

- line 89: australe

- line 94: and what about Neopestalotiopsis? Has it no been reported to coexist with Botryosphaeriaceae species?

- Table 1: first line (Australia). Are you sure that only 5.8S was sequenced? I find it hard to believe. In the rest of the table why using " ITS1, ITS2, 5.8S regions of rDNA". If you write just "ITS region" it includes all this.

- lines 158 to 170: check the italics on genera and species names.

Author Response

Your comments are greatly appreciated. We have adjusted the manuscript accordingly.

This is very good review on Botryosphaeria stem blight. It is very well organized and written. I have only very minor corrections and comments:

- line 89: australe

Thanks for spotting the error. The typo was corrected.

- line 94: and what about Neopestalotiopsis? Has it no been reported to coexist with Botryosphaeriaceae species?

At the reviewer’s suggestion, we have added Neopestalotiopsis to this list as well as an appropriate citation.

- Table 1: first line (Australia). Are you sure that only 5.8S was sequenced? I find it hard to believe. In the rest of the table why using " ITS1, ITS2, 5.8S regions of rDNA". If you write just "ITS region" it includes all this.

Thanks for your suggestion, we adjusted the texts in Table 1 to “ITS region” instead.

- lines 158 to 170: check the italics on genera and species names

Thanks for pointing out the error. Genera and species names have been italicized.