Functional Characterization of the M36 Metalloprotease FgFly1 in Fusarium graminearum

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript submitted for review is a fairly important fundamentally oriented work that expands the existing understanding of the functional role of members of the fungal secreted metalloproteinase (M36) family. It is well known that proteins from this group are one of the key virulence factors in phytopathogenic species, just as for fungi that cause systemic mycoses. At the same time, the fundamental novelty of this work covers in the fact that for the first time the role of these enzymes in the physiology of the microorganisms themselves has been shown. On the whole, this work is highly commendable; however, its general shortcoming is that almost all the main conclusions were made solely on the basis of the transcriptional activity of the corresponding genes. Accordingly, the present study needs to be expanded in terms of moving from the postgenomic to the proteomic level.

There are a few notes about the work:

1. In the introduction section, it would be good to reflect in more detail the known functions of secreted fungal metalloproteinases, in particular, to describe their structural features and the specifics of their functional action.

2. Figure 1 is too small and fuzzy in terms of visualization. Authors are invited to improve its quality and/or transfer it to the Supplementary Data. The fundamental moment is represented on, why reason a phylogenetic analysis made based on the alignment of the deduced amino acid sequences of a number of metalloproteinases belonging to different genera of fungi? By the way, we see specificity in homology for enzymes related to Fusarium spp., it could be predicted. Still, on the basis of phylogeny, to what extent can one make a prediction of the function of such proteins, for example, for opportunistic species of fungi and yeasts?

3. Are there any data on the diversity of genes encoding MEPs in the genomes of fungi from the Fusarium genus? Are there any isoforms? How can this help in understanding the structural-functional relationship?

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Reviewer 2 Report

Manuscript title: Functional characterization of the M36 metalloprotease FgFly1 in Fusarium graminearum

 

Manuscript ID: jof-1795972

 

Journal: Journal of Fungi  

 

 

The function of M36 metalloprotease FgFly1 in F. graminearum was studied. FgFly1 interacted with wheat TaCAMTA to reduce the disease resistance of host wheat to achieve the purpose of infection. The subject is interesting for researchers working in the field of molecular biology. Material and methods contain a sufficient data and will be useful for other researchers to repeat. Results and discussion are correlated and gave me direct idea about the points which the authors need to touch. I recommend this MS to be accepted following minor revision.

 

-          A separate section dealing with the statistical analysis should be provided at the end of material and methods;

-          A separate paragraph as a conclusion should be provided also;

-          In some cases, figures need to be improved.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx