Taxonomic and Phylogenetic Studies of Saprobic Fungi Associated with Mangifera indica in Yunnan, China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The job was very well done. The biological part made with the different species demonstrates care in the preparation and is perfectly documented in all its forms. Congratulations to the authors. The phylogenetic analyzes were carried out using modern molecular techniques, the trees allow observing the differences between the new species reported here. As reported by the authors, fungi play a fundamental role in the biological chain, and should not be studied only for their phytopathogenic action. Remembering the recent explosion of knowledge related to mycoviruses, phytopathogenic fungi that host viruses that can contribute to the attenuation of the symptoms of some diseases. As a suggestion to the authors, I recommend making a pert to relate the fungi described with the mango plants and the saprophytic relationship.

Author Response

Dear editor and reviewers,

Thank you very much for your reply regarding our manuscript entitled “Taxonomic and Phylogenetic Studies of Saprobic Fungi Associated with Mangifera indica in Yunnan, China”. We are grateful for your and the reviewer’s comments, and the critical evaluation of our work. We have revised and modified the text according to the referees' critiques. Overall, we have adjusted the text (highlighted in blue), to make the structure of the content more concise. These changes have improved the manuscript considerably, and we hope that it can be published without delay.

 

Er-Fu Yang, Dong-qin Dai, Jayarama D. Bhat, Turki M. Dawoud, Itthayakorn Promputtha, Nimal Adikaram, Steven L. Stephenson, Samantha C. Karunarathna*, Saowaluck Tibpromma*

 

Reviewer 1

1. Comment:The job was very well done. The biological part made with the different species demonstrates care in the preparation and is perfectly documented in all its forms. Congratulations to the authors. The phylogenetic analyzes were carried out using modern molecular techniques, the trees allow observing the differences between the new species reported here. As reported by the authors, fungi play a fundamental role in the biological chain, and should not be studied only for their phytopathogenic action. Remembering the recent explosion of knowledge related to mycoviruses, phytopathogenic fungi that host viruses that can contribute to the attenuation of the symptoms of some diseases. As a suggestion to the authors, I recommend making a pert to relate the fungi described with the mango plants and the saprophytic relationship.

 

Response: Thank you for your positive feedback, and useful suggestions. We revised the discussion part and highlighted it in blue.

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear Authors 

The authors obtained fungal isolates from the mango plant, which they claimed to be saprophytic. These isolates were identified using morphological and molecular tools.

Access to the fungal database site "https://nt.arsgrin.gov/fungaldatabases" is not possible. Check or fix it.

Although isolated from specimens from dead tissue, I don't not know how appropriate it is to call the isolates saprobic, since there is no pathogenicity study.

 

I think the gene loci they used and the phylogenetic analyzes they performed were sufficient to distinguish the isolates.

In addition, they recorded 3 different isolate groups that emerged as new clades in the phylogenetic tree as new species.

I think the article overall is very good and of high quality and work to engage readers.

Best

 

 

 

Author Response

Dear editor and reviewers,

Thank you very much for your reply regarding our manuscript entitled “Taxonomic and Phylogenetic Studies of Saprobic Fungi Associated with Mangifera indica in Yunnan, China”. We are grateful for your and the reviewer’s comments, and the critical evaluation of our work. We have revised and modified the text according to the referees' critiques. Overall, we have adjusted the text (highlighted in yellow), to make the structure of the content more concise. These changes have improved the manuscript considerably, and we hope that it can be published without delay.

 

Er-Fu Yang, Dong-qin Dai, Jayarama D. Bhat, Turki M. Dawoud, Itthayakorn Promputtha, Nimal Adikaram, Steven L. Stephenson, Samantha C. Karunarathna*, Saowaluck Tibpromma*

Review 2:

1. Comment: Access to the fungal database site "https://nt.arsgrin.gov/fungaldatabases" is not possible. Check or fix it.

Response: Revised the related information, as the U.S. national fungus collections database online service is not accessible; we cited the recent publication Taïbi et al. (2022).

2. Comment:Although isolated from specimens from dead tissue, I don't know how appropriate it is to call the isolates saprobic, since there is no pathogenicity study.

Response: When the fungi are isolated on fresh and live host plants with disease symptoms, it is necessary to do pathogenicity tests. However, in this study, we isolated fungi only from dead material, and therefore, we are confident that we isolated only saprobic fungi.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf