PONE-D-22-01377Decolorization of Azo dyes by a novel aerobic bacterialPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Naqvi,

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Faisal Mamhood

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Additional Editor Comments:

Please find below the reviewers comments 

Reviewers' comments:

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Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: The manuscript titled "Decolorization of azo dyes by a novel bacterial' has been reviewed and I found it an interesting piece of research; however, a lot of flaws have been indicated and are necessary to be taken care of before the further consideration.

Comments:

The title of the paper is not complete ‘bacterial isolate………..name…..?? What is the novel in the bacterial strain, a huge number of bacillus species have been reported to decolorize the dyes. The word Novel is confusing here.

Abstract………azo dyes…not azo- dyes

Introduction contain a lot of grammar and structural mistakes. Please take care of…

Methodology

All chemicals and reagents of analytical grade…..this is not a complete sentence

What is the rational to select 37 C temperature and why the aerobic conditions were provided especially when it is established that the azo dye decolorization is an anaerobic process?

16S rRNA gene….should be written correctly….Which primers were used?.....the mention the protocol description

Phylogenetic tree should be correctly drawn. All the bacterial strain should be italicized. The isolated bacterial strain should be indicated as bold or red. A control group should be added in the tree

In decolorization graphs, if decolorization was not measured at 0, then 0 time should not be added in the graphs. There is no need to add 0

There should be an accession number of the identified strain

The discussion is all over the place. The mere repetition of results should not be the part. Discussion should logically narrate the results by comparting with relevant literature.

The manuscript should be checked with the native English speaker to improve the grammar, syntax, sentence structure etc.

Reviewer #2: This is a well designed and clearly written study. The authors have performed that experiments in a logical manner and reported the results with comparison to the available studies in the literature. The quality of English language is also adequate. Therefore, this study has my recommendation for publication as such.

I have a minor question though. Did the authors test the growth potential of the isolated strain against the azo dyes at concentrations levels higher than the 250 mg/l? If not, why?

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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PONE-D-22-01377R1Decolorization of Azo dyes by a novel aerobic bacterial strain Bacillus cereus strain ROCPLOS ONE

Dear author

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.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols. Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Faisal Mamhood

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

Additional Editor Comments (if provided):

Some answers are not given in the revised version, e.g, question raised by reviewer 1 as mentioned by the author as question number 10 and 11 in file response to reviewers comments. Give the answers of these questions.

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Reviewers' comments:

[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.]

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 PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

Decolorization of Azo dyes by a novel aerobic bacterial strain Bacillus cereus strain ROC

PONE-D-22-01377R2

Dear authors

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.

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Kind regards,

Faisal Mamhood

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments: