PONE-D-22-12902Differences in the Subgingival Microbiome According to Stage of Periodontitis: A Comparison of Two Geographic RegionsPLOS ONE

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: To my view this is an excellent paper and demonstrates the lack of significant differences between oral bacterial populations in Spain and Colombia which is actually very interesting taking into account ethnic and nutritional differences. Moreover the paper is also a brilliant demonstration that research in Dentistry may be of high quality when performed in the shared fields with advanced sciences such as Microbiology. I reccommend publication.

Reviewer #2: In the manuscript entitled “Differences in the Subgingival microbiome according to the stage of periodontitis: A comparison of two geographic regions” submitted by Gloria Ines Lafaurie et al., authors have compared the differences of the subgingival microbiome in periodontal patients (stages I/II and III/IV compared to H/G) from two different geographical populations (Spain and Colombia). In recent years several studies have been done to study the subgingival microbiome from periodontal patients from a specific country/region but the results comparing two different geographic regions are limited.

In general, the results presented here will contribute to better understand the diversity and composition of the subgingival microbiota from periodontal patients. The sequencing results are well explained and the results are discussed in context with other similar studies with contradictory results. I do not have any major comments for this manuscript.

Minor comments

1. Line 88: different periodontal ‘diagnosis’ instead of ‘diagnoses’.

2. Line 154: Put a period after Nanodrop 2000).

3. Throughout in the manuscript, the names of some bacteria are written in scientifically wrong way. For example, Filifactor alocis is written as F. alocis in early manuscript and later again as Filifactor alocis. This error is repeated at several places with names of different bacteria. Please carefully review the manuscript for these errors and correct them.

4. Lines 440-449: References are mixed up (line 443, ref 46 is 47; line 446, ref 47 is 48; line 447, ref 48 is 47; line 449, ref 46 is 47).

5. Line 446: “In recent studies, F. alocis has been included within the red complex periodontal pathogens”. F. alocis has only been proposed in recent studies to be included within the red complex bacteria but never been referred as red complex bacteria. Therefore, this sentence should be written as “In recent studies, F. alocis has been proposed to be included within the red complex periodontal pathogens”.

6. References 47, 48 and 49: Name of bacteria should be italicized.

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Reviewer #1: Yes: Miguel Viñas

Reviewer #2: No

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Differences in the subgingival microbiome according to stage of periodontitis: A comparison of two geographic regions

PONE-D-22-12902R1

Dear Dr. Lafaurie,

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,

Hansel McClear Fletcher, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE