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PONE-D-22-35030Association between the PPARGC1A Gly482Ser polymorphism and muscle fitness in Chinese schoolchildrenPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. wei,

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.

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ACADEMIC EDITOR:

Dear Authors,

Two experts in the field revised your current manuscript and recognised some points that should be addressed.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Javier Abián-Vicén, Ph.D.

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: No

Reviewer #2: No

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

Reviewer #1: N/A

Reviewer #2: N/A

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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: No

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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: I congratulate the authors on the study.

However, there are some points to improve.

Abstract: completely revise it. Review the background regarding muscle development in children, specify the definition and problem correlation of the PPARGC1A gene. Enter the definition first and then the gene in parentheses. Also, improve the explanation of materials and methods, are unclear. Improve the difference between Gly/Gly and Gly/Ser before explaining the results.

Improve explanation of findings and conclusion.

Introduction: Expand the background and bibliographic references regarding muscle development in children, the correlation with health and the possible negative consequences at a physiological and pathological level in case it is not corrected. Improving the binding to the gene and the respective polymorphisms and their consequences.

Improve exposure of the problem.

Insert line 86 the various types of tests used for the evaluation of physical strength, after the explanation of the problem, increase the bibliographic references on the validity of the tests.

Materials and Methods: Write a paragraph on statistical analysis and how it was evaluated. A table could be inserted with the tests carried out, the repetitions, the modalities and the respective bibliographic references.

Discussion: improve the exposition of the problem and the background as in the introduction with more in-depth analysis of the existing bibliography in the literature. Also, improve exposure regarding the innovation that the study can bring to research. Improve the link between BMI and Gly482, increase bibliographic references and exposure of the link.

Reviewer #2: The manuscript under consideration: "Association between the PPARGC1A Gly482Ser polymorphism and muscle fitness in Chinese schoolchildren" is an interesting article on an important topic in PLOS ONE.

1. The argument in the introduction is weak. The hypothesis of the study is unclear.

2. Although it discusses children and adolescents, the age range covered is 7~12 years old. It should be modified a bit more to an introduction appropriate for this study.

3. How did the authors determine the sample appropriate size?

4. Please add a methodological rationale for the assessment of physical function such as grip strength, citing previous research.

5. Please add the data, including who measured it and the years of experience.

5. The inclusion and exclusion criteria are unclear. A detailed description of how participants were selected is needed.

6. If you want to emphasize more what we have said in the discussion, it would be better to perform a multivariate analysis, such as a logistic regression analysis.

7. I believe there will be gender differences in physical function in the upper grades. Please consider conducting separate analyses for males and females.

8. What is the most newly found in this study?

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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: Yes: Giovanni Messina

Reviewer #2: No

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Association between the PPARGC1A Gly482Ser polymorphism and muscle fitness in Chinese schoolchildren

PONE-D-22-35030R1

Dear Dr. wei,

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,

Javier Abián-Vicén, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Congratulations for your work!

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

Reviewer #3: 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

Reviewer #3: Yes

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

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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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: No

Reviewer #3: 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

Reviewer #3: Yes

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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: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to peer review your valuable paper. The authors carefully addressed all of the reviewer comments. I have no further comments.

Reviewer #3: Congratulations for your paper. I think the document meets the criteria established by Plos One to be published.

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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

Reviewer #3: No

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