Peer Review History
| Original SubmissionNovember 19, 2019 |
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PONE-D-19-32190 Brd2 haploinsufficiency extends lifespan and healthspan in C57B6/J mice PLOS ONE Dear Dr Pathak, Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process. As you can see from the accompanying critiques the reviewers find merit in your work but request additional information before the manuscript can be considered for publication. This relates for example to the documentation of pathology in the animal cohorts. Also, please comment on point 1 raised by reviewer 2 regarding the lifespan of the control animals. Please also address all additional points in a revised version of your manuscript. We would appreciate receiving your revised manuscript by Feb 22 2020 11:59PM. When you are ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file. If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. To enhance the reproducibility of your results, we recommend that if applicable you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io, where a protocol can be assigned its own identifier (DOI) such that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:
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To do this, go to ‘Update my Information’ (in the upper left-hand corner of the main menu), and click on the Fetch/Validate link next to the ORCID field. This will take you to the ORCID site and allow you to create a new iD or authenticate a pre-existing iD in Editorial Manager. Please see the following video for instructions on linking an ORCID iD to your Editorial Manager account: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xcclfuvtxQ 11. We note that you have included the phrase “data not shown” in your manuscript. Unfortunately, this does not meet our data sharing requirements. PLOS does not permit references to inaccessible data. We require that authors provide all relevant data within the paper, Supporting Information files, or in an acceptable, public repository. Please add a citation to support this phrase or upload the data that corresponds with these findings to a stable repository (such as Figshare or Dryad) and provide and URLs, DOIs, or accession numbers that may be used to access these data. Or, if the data are not a core part of the research being presented in your study, we ask that you remove the phrase that refers to these data. 12. Please include captions for your Supporting Information files at the end of your manuscript, and update any in-text citations to match accordingly. Please see our Supporting Information guidelines for more information: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/supporting-information. [Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.] 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 ********** 2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? Reviewer #1: Yes Reviewer #2: Yes ********** 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 ********** 4. 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: Yes Reviewer #2: Yes ********** 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, the authors observed that reduced Brd2 expression benefits for extending lifespan and healthspan of C57B6/J mice. Despite Brd2 haploinsufficient mice have been generated by several groups in different ways, the pro-longevity phenotype in HET mice has never been identified. The authors also concerned the downstream effectors, e.g. Sirt1, HO-1, and P53, were upregulated in Brd2 HET tissues. These genes are apparently cytoprotective and longevity-related, partially explaining the pronounced role of Brd2 haploinsufficiency in longevity. However, there are a number of issues the authors need to address before publication. In the second paragraph, the authors introduced Cisd2, a well-known longevity gene, prolongs the lifespan of mice to the extent that Brd2 haploinsufficiency does. Does the authors aim to exclude the benefits of Brd2 HET from Cisd2’s role? Are there some functional overlaps between these two proteins? However, I could not find any test on Cisd2 function in Brd2 HET mice. Since the authors’ observation is so distinct to the other groups based on their mouse models, please provide the generating strategy and characterization of the Brd2 HET mice, e.g. scheme of gene trap and Brd2 protein expression profile in various tissues. Again please discuss a bit more the reason why your mouse models are phenotypically different to other groups. In supplementary Fig2, the author showed the bodyweight was unchanged in Brd2 HET mice when comparing to WT. However, it has been reported that Brd2 disruption in mice causes severe obesity. Please discus this difference. In addition to kidney, the authors also definitely examined the pathologies in other organs, like liver, spleen and testis (data not shown). I suggest the authors provide these data to strengthen the conclusion that Brd2 HET improves mouse healthspan. In this manuscript, the authors provided large descriptive information on mouse aging phenotype, yet no evidence. For example, in line 262-271, the whole paragraph demonstrated the observation of symptoms of aging in WT and HET mice without any data. The authors should provide some scientific evidence, like the pictures of aged WT and HET mice, quantifications of mouse activities, or the movies on mouse behavior … Please label the medium lifespan of mice in figure 1. In Result section, there is no data description of Figure 2C. Reviewer #2: This paper describes a novel discovery, that reduced expression of Brd2 leads to increased lifespan, which is associated with reduced pathology and improved health. Although this is an important observation, I have the following major concerns with the manuscript: 1. The increase in lifespan is impressive and is the key to this paper. However, the lifespan reported for the WT female and male mice (which are in the C57BL/6 background) of 23 and 26 months is very short compared to other reports (e.g., see data from Jackson Laboratory, de Cabo, and Richardson) for C57BL/6 mice. The lifespans the authors obtain with the Brd2 HET mice are actually about what is observed with normal WT mice. This is a major concern because the increased lifespan could arise from making the mice more robust to the conditions that gave rise to the shorter lifespan of the WT mice rather than retarding aging. This has been shown in previous studies, which reported increased lifespan when the median/mean lifespan of the WT mice was less thatn 26 months of age, and the increased lifespan was not replicated when conducted in colonies where the WT mice had a median/mean lifespan of over 29 months. 2. A great deal of emphasis was placed on the pathological data. The major cause of death in C57BL/6 mice is lymphoma in most aging colonies; however, the data on cancer was lumped together as tumors, i.e., it was not clear what the neoplastic lesions were in the mice. In addition, renal pathology appears to be a major problem in the mice in this study, which is in contrast to most other studies on aging in C57BL/6 mice, where renal pathology is relatively minor. 3. The data on the mice being ‘biologically’ younger was weak. For example, a great deal of emphasis was placed on the epigenetic clock. However, the epigenetic clock is a measure of chronological age, not physiological age. In addition, these data were generated with only 4 mice per group and no data were given of the animal to animal variation in data (e.g., SD or SEM). The data on observational health of the animals on page 13 was unconvincing. Data on physiological functions such as grip strength, activity, rotarod performance, and cognition would have been stronger evidence that the HET mice were physiologically younger. Minor Concerns: 1. The authors state on page 4 (line 78-77) that there are “only a handful of candidate longevity genes for mice.” This is not correct; there have been at least two dozen different genes identified. The most cited are those that show reduced growth hormone/IGF. The Cisd2 mouse has not been studied greatly from an aging context. 2. In the methods, it was stated that the mice were either allowed to live out their lifespan or euthanized. It would be important to know the number (%) of mice euthanized for the WT and HET mice, i.e., where more WT mice euthanized. 3. Supplement: there is no list of references for the figures in the supplement, and it is not clear what the third figure is all about. 4. The introduction reads more like a discussion. For example, I found very little information about the Brd2 gene in the introduction or anywhere in the manuscript. I would have liked to know what protein this gene codes for and its biochemical/molecular function, etc. ********** 6. 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: No [NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files to be viewed.] While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email us at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step. |
| Revision 1 |
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Brd2 haploinsufficiency extends lifespan and healthspan in C57B6/J mice PONE-D-19-32190R1 Dear Dr. Pathak, We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements. Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication. An invoice for payment will follow shortly after the formal acceptance. To ensure an efficient process, please log into Editorial Manager at http://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/, click the 'Update My Information' link at the top of the page, and double check that your user information is up-to-date. If you have any billing related questions, please contact our Author Billing department directly at authorbilling@plos.org. If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org. Kind regards, Christoph Englert 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 ********** 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) ********** 3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? Reviewer #1: (No Response) ********** 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) ********** 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) ********** 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) ********** 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 |
| Formally Accepted |
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PONE-D-19-32190R1 Brd2 haploinsufficiency extends lifespan and healthspan in C57B6/J mice Dear Dr. Pathak: I'm pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been deemed suitable for publication in PLOS ONE. Congratulations! Your manuscript is now with our production department. If your institution or institutions have a press office, please let them know about your upcoming paper now to help maximize its impact. If they'll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team within the next 48 hours. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information please contact onepress@plos.org. If we can help with anything else, please email us at plosone@plos.org. Thank you for submitting your work to PLOS ONE and supporting open access. Kind regards, PLOS ONE Editorial Office Staff on behalf of Dr. Christoph Englert Academic Editor PLOS ONE |
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