PONE-D-22-35287Evaluation of Expression variations in virulence-related genes of Leishmania major after several culture passages compared with Phlebotomus papatasi isolated promastigotesPLOS ONE

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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: Yes

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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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?

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

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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 manuscript evaluates the expression variations in virulence-related genes of L. major after several culture passages compared with wild parasites. The title sound novel and would represent valuable information on virulence-related genes that can be finally translated into the clinical settings.

The utilized methods have been appropriately applied towards the manuscript goal. There is only some typographical and stylistic errors in English writing in the manuscript, mostly in introduction and discussion parts, which should be obviated.

In total, the manuscript has been carefully devised and performed, and will be of great interest to the readers of PLoS One journal.

Reviewer #2: This manuscript presents an interesting concept and is well designed. There are some comments that must be addressed:

-Please write the abstract in a structural form. See the journal guidelines.

-Line 41-42: Please write the full form of gp63, HSP70, LACK, SHERP, CPB in the abstract first, and then write its abbreviation.

-Line 51: Please correct the phrase "Out results showed a significant increased gene..."

-Line 52-54: Please state any significant differences in the abstract text statistically and write p-value.

- According to the sentence of line 99. Explain the reason for choosing the Stationary phase compared whit the logarithmic phase.

-Please mention the reason for choosing seven genes among different virulence factors in the introduction section.

-In line 125, please write Ph. papatasi in italic form and consider in other parts of the text.

-In line 182: write the type of Real Time PCR system and Master Mix in detail.

- In line 185, it refers to the (Table), while there is no table in the text of the manuscript. Please check.

-Please mention the limitations and recommendations in the last paragraph of the discussion.

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Reviewer #1: Yes: Dr. Hamidreza Majidiani

Reviewer #2: No

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Evaluation of Expression variations in virulence-related genes of Leishmania major after several culture passages compared with Phlebotomus papatasi isolated promastigotes

PONE-D-22-35287R1

Dear Dr. Abbasali Eskandarian,

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,

Alireza Badirzadeh

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 #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 #2: Yes

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

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

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 #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 #2: Yes

**********

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 #2: Line 53 in abstract section, "Out results" correct to "our results"

Line 103 in introduction section, "amastigotes assists" be corrected to "amastigotes assist"

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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 #2: No

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