Peer Review History

Original SubmissionJuly 7, 2020
Decision Letter - Eugene A. Permyakov, Editor

PONE-D-20-20947

Bicine promotes rapid formation of β-sheet-rich amyloid-β fibrils

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. YoungSoo Kim,

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Eugene A. Permyakov, Ph.D., Dr.Sci.

Academic Editor

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

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

Reviewer #1: N/A

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

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Reviewer #1: Yes

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Reviewer #1: 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: The authors describe a chemical model of Aβ40 oligomer aggregation, the leading hypothesis of the mechanism of cerebral amyloid angiopathy, overlapping in many aspects with Altzheimer’s disease. Their findings allows for observations for chemically controlled changes in the aggregation state of amyloid-beta peptide. This might potentially assist in the development of the drugs targeting the corresponding neuropathologies.

The study, albeit relatively simple, is well planned and conducted. I couldn’t find too many contradicting points in the authors’ logics. Therefore I could recommend the manuscript for publication after a minor revision according to the notes below.

Minor and technical comments

1. Ln. 137, 153 and elsewhere: “…serial concentrations of bicine (0.07813 to 20 mM)…” — the precision of concentrations must be expressed uniformly, to a certain number of significant digits.

2. Ln. 155 and elsewhere — the PBS concentration is not disclosed in the manuscript.

3. Fig. 2. The figure’s title must relate to both buffers used, not to bicine only.

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Reviewer #1: No

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Revision 1

Response to Editor's and Reviewer’s Comments:

Original uncropped and unadjusted images of gels are now provided in Supporting Information. Also, figure 3 was adjusted accordingly to gel reporting requirements of PLOS ONE. As our experiment did not use any human or animal subjects and/or tissue, we did not provide an ethics statement.

Minor Comments

1. Ln. 137, 153 and elsewhere: “…serial concentrations of bicine (0.07813 to 20 mM)…” — the precision of concentrations must be expressed uniformly, to a certain number of significant digits.

- Thank you for your comments. We have accordingly changed the expression of significant figures in a uniform manner.

2. Ln. 155 and elsewhere — the PBS concentration is not disclosed in the manuscript.

- Thank you for your comment. We have added the concentration of PBS (1X) to the materials and methods and figure legend sections in this manuscript.

Ln. 68: “PBS (1X) consists of phosphate buffer concentration of 0.01M and a sodium chloride concentration of 0.154M.” (Added)

3. Fig. 2. The figure’s title must relate to both buffers used, not to bicine only.

- Thank you. We have inserted “PBS” into the title of Fig. 2.

Attachments
Attachment
Submitted filename: Response to Reviewers.docx
Decision Letter - Eugene A. Permyakov, Editor

Bicine promotes rapid formation of β-sheet-rich amyloid-β fibrils

PONE-D-20-20947R1

Dear Dr. Kim,

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.

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Kind regards,

Eugene A. Permyakov, Ph.D., Dr.Sci.

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Formally Accepted
Acceptance Letter - Eugene A. Permyakov, Editor

PONE-D-20-20947R1

Bicine promotes rapid formation of β-sheet-rich amyloid-β fibrils

Dear Dr. Kim:

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

Prof. Eugene A. Permyakov

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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