PONE-D-19-34899

Wheat individual grain-size variance originates from crop development and from specific genetic determinism

PLOS ONE

Dear Ms. Beral,

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PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Partly

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: I Don't Know

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: In this manuscript, authors used two large genetic wheat panels under two environments and investigated the individual grain size variances and yield components. They showed that the variance of individual grain size originates from the pre-flowering components of grain yield and also has a specific genetic basis,. Moreover, they identified 64 QTLs with the effects on the variance of individual grain size, either dependently or dependently from the other yield components, suggesting that individual grain size variance could be used as a trait to be manipulated in wheat breeding practices.

Overall, this manuscript provides another layer of insight into the intra-genotypic variance of individual grain mass and its effect on TKW. The data is sufficient to support their conclusions. However, a few of minor points should be considered to improve the manuscript.

Specific comments:

1. Authors identified a total 64 OTLs for variance of individual grain size and listed their chromosome distribution but without their position. I think it is better to give a rough position in each chromosome either physically or genetically.

2. Authors also mentioned they identified QTLs for yield components but did not show these QTLs. I think this information should be provided. Since extensive such QTLs have been reported, how many such QTLs are likely overlapping with reported?

3. Regarding to GSV, the 30 “driven” QTLs obviously contribute to the yield, how about 34 “specific” QTLs? The biological function of these specific QTLs should be discussed.

4. The manuscript should be more concise, especially Abstract, Introduction and Discussion parts.

Reviewer #2: Although this research seemed to be interesting, the manuscript should be further revised, especially the experiment desgin and data analysis, language, etc.

Introduction

p11: Line 108-113 and Line 114-122 seemed to be repetitive, so delete one of them or revise.

Experiment design:

The two different populations were used in two years under well-watered and water-deficit, in fact, each one population has been grown in one year under two treatments, so E1,E2 E3 and E4 should not be used to anlyze data. therefore recommend the authors to analyze the data under different treatment in one population, respcetively.

Why there are no replicates? It is not clear.

Results

Many SNPs were found in different traits, but the significant SNP related trait was not pointed out.

The language should be further revised.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes: Zhiying Deng

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Wheat individual grain-size variance originates from crop development and from specific genetic determinism

PONE-D-19-34899R1

Dear Dr. Beral,

We are pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it complies with all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you will receive an e-mail containing information on the amendments required prior to publication. When all required modifications have been addressed, you will receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will proceed to our production department and be scheduled for publication.

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With kind regards,

Aimin Zhang, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: Yes

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6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes: Zhiying Deng