Transfer Alert

This paper was transferred from another journal. As a result, its full editorial history (including decision letters, peer reviews and author responses) may not be present.

PONE-D-23-13341Physiology of gamma-aminobutyric acid treated Capsicum annuum L. (Sweet pepper) under induced drought stressPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Iqbal,

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 submit your revised manuscript by Jul 28 2023 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

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,

Haitao Shi

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Journal Requirements:

When submitting your revision, we need you to address these additional requirements.

1. Please ensure that your manuscript meets PLOS ONE's style requirements, including those for file naming. The PLOS ONE style templates can be found at 

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=wjVg/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_main_body.pdf and 

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=ba62/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_title_authors_affiliations.pdf

2. We suggest you thoroughly copyedit your manuscript for language usage, spelling, and grammar. If you do not know anyone who can help you do this, you may wish to consider employing a professional scientific editing service.  

Whilst you may use any professional scientific editing service of your choice, PLOS has partnered with both American Journal Experts (AJE) and Editage to provide discounted services to PLOS authors. Both organizations have experience helping authors meet PLOS guidelines and can provide language editing, translation, manuscript formatting, and figure formatting to ensure your manuscript meets our submission guidelines. To take advantage of our partnership with AJE, visit the AJE website (http://learn.aje.com/plos/) for a 15% discount off AJE services. To take advantage of our partnership with Editage, visit the Editage website (www.editage.com) and enter referral code PLOSEDIT for a 15% discount off Editage services.  If the PLOS editorial team finds any language issues in text that either AJE or Editage has edited, the service provider will re-edit the text for free.

Upon resubmission, please provide the following: 

● The name of the colleague or the details of the professional service that edited your manuscript

● A copy of your manuscript showing your changes by either highlighting them or using track changes (uploaded as a *supporting information* file)

● A clean copy of the edited manuscript (uploaded as the new *manuscript* file)

3. In your Data Availability statement, you have not specified where the minimal data set underlying the results described in your manuscript can be found. PLOS defines a study's minimal data set as the underlying data used to reach the conclusions drawn in the manuscript and any additional data required to replicate the reported study findings in their entirety. All PLOS journals require that the minimal data set be made fully available. For more information about our data policy, please see http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/data-availability.

"Upon re-submitting your revised manuscript, please upload your study’s minimal underlying data set as either Supporting Information files or to a stable, public repository and include the relevant URLs, DOIs, or accession numbers within your revised cover letter. For a list of acceptable repositories, please see http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/data-availability#loc-recommended-repositories. Any potentially identifying patient information must be fully anonymized.

Important: If there are ethical or legal restrictions to sharing your data publicly, please explain these restrictions in detail. Please see our guidelines for more information on what we consider unacceptable restrictions to publicly sharing data: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/data-availability#loc-unacceptable-data-access-restrictions. Note that it is not acceptable for the authors to be the sole named individuals responsible for ensuring data access.

We will update your Data Availability statement to reflect the information you provide in your cover letter.

4. We note that you have stated that you will provide repository information for your data at acceptance. Should your manuscript be accepted for publication, we will hold it until you provide the relevant accession numbers or DOIs necessary to access your data. If you wish to make changes to your Data Availability statement, please describe these changes in your cover letter and we will update your Data Availability statement to reflect the information you provide.

5. Please ensure that you refer to Figure 1 in your text as, if accepted, production will need this reference to link the reader to the figure.

6. We note you have included a table to which you do not refer in the text of your manuscript. Please ensure that you refer to Table 1 in your text; if accepted, production will need this reference to link the reader to the Table.

[Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.]

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: Partly

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

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

Reviewer #1: I Don't Know

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

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: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

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: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

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: Though the study is interesting but the current draft needs to be significantly improved. Thus, I suggest major revision.

1. The first 10 lines of the abstract should be concise. The results are not well written in the abstract.

2. Carefully check the entire text and ensure all scientific names are in italics.

3. The introduction is unnecessary is too long. Please significantly shorten it to 1.5 to 2 pages only.

4. In the introduction, for drought and plant growth regulations, authors must add some most recent studies such as doi: 10.1002/tpg2.20279; 10.1016/j.sajb.2023.05.018; 10.1080/15592324.2023.2186045; 10.1016/j.stress.2023.100152; etc.

5. The writing style is not consistent and must be checked and edited.

6. On what basis GABA dose was selected?

7. Change Chloro to Chl throughout the MS. There are many repeated abbreviations. Please define all the abbreviations on the first mention in the main text, then use the abbreviated form.

8. The presentation of results must be carefully improved. For example, authors can add %/folds numerical data for the increased/significant results.

9. So many figures and tables and some figures can be merged into 1 figure and arranged in different legends A/B/C/D etc. For instance, all graphs can be easily arranged in 2-3 figures. Please work on the figures and reduce the total number of figures.

10. The discussion is too long and boring. Please shorten and provide mechanic insights behind the observed changes.

11. Shorten the conclusion.

12. The revised version should be carefully proofread.

Reviewer #2: the paper is very good

the intro is vey long - remove 50% of it

the extensive statistics have to move to supplm. (regression .....)

disscussion need to condense and use updated referances

similariy is high and need to reduce (attached file)

Reviewer #3: Reviewer Comments

As per my analysis, the research paper titled “Physiology of gamma-aminobutyric acid treated Capsicum Annuum L. (sweet pepper) under induced drought stress” submitted by Baber Iqbal is a novel approach toward the field and can be accepted with the following changes.

• Most part of the paper is like an easy, it must be written in scientific manner, better to use indirect form, and also the Use of “WE” is much more than the normal.

• The abstract contains most of the findings in parenthesis, remove these parentheses and make it a plane and easy to understand sentences.

• Add an introductory statement to the abstract and conclusive sentence at the end. Briefly discuss your methods too.

• Introduction and discussion has some irrelevant citations replace them with the following updated relevant works.

• An introduction of almost 2 pages would be sufficient to give an idea of the research done. Some data is given without providing proper citation. If this is not your findings add reference.

• Methodology section is extensively elaborated. it is suggested to make it brief and concise. Each and every method should be cited, if it is not a first time invention.

• Try to merge all the tables in to a single table and add reference values.

• The graphs are properly prepared.

• The results are supported with the present day research which could be further improved with latest citations, it should be discuss thoroughly with existing review.

Important Citations

1. Sami Ullah, Muhammad Ishaq Khan, Muhammad Nauman Khan, Usman Ali, Baber Ali, Rashid Iqbal, Abdel-Rhman Z Gaafar, Bandar M. AlMunqedhi, Sarah Abdul Razak, Alevcan Kaplan, Sezai Ercisli, and Fathia A. Soudy. 2023. Efficacy of Naphthyl Acetic Acid Foliar Spray in Moderating Drought Effects on the Morphological and Physiological Traits of Maize Plants (Zea mays L.). ACS Omega. DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.3c00753.

2. Shah, N.A., Ullah, S., Nafees, M. Exogenous Effect of Sugar Beet Extract On Physio-biochemical Traits of Hordeum vulgare L. Under Induced Salinity Stress. Gesunde Pflanzen (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10343-023-00894-5.

3. Shumaila, Ullah, S. & Nafees, M. Biochar Application to Soil and Seed Pre-Soaking on Growth, Yield and Physiological Response of Solanum melongena L. Under Induced Abiotic Stresses. J Plant Growth Regul (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-023-10990-5.

4. Ali, U., Ullah, S. & Nafees, M. 2023. Resistance Induction in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Against Salinity Stress through Biochar as a Soil Amendment and Salicylic Acid-Induced Signaling. Gesunde Pflanzen. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10343-023-00851-2.

5. Nafees, M., Ullah, S. & Ahmed, I. 2023. Bioprospecting Biochar and Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria for Alleviating Water Deficit Stress in Vicia faba L. Gesunde Pflanzen. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10343-023-00875-8.

6. Fazal Amin, Sami Ullah, Shah Saud, Muhammad,Zahid Ihsan, Shah Hassan, Sunjeet Kumar, Taufiq Nawaz, MatthewTom Harrison, Ke Liu, Imran Khan, Haitao Liu, Khaled El-Kahtany, Shah Fahad. 2023. Hydrothermal time analysis of mung bean (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek seed germination at different water potential and temperatures. South African Journal of Botany. 157 (447-456).

7. Gul-Lalay, S. Ullah, M. Nafees, I. Ahmed. 2023. Resistance induction in Brassica napus L. against water deficit stress through application of biochar and plant growth promoting rhizobacteriaBrassica napus L. against water deficit stress through application of biochar and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria. Journal of the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jssas.2023.04.001.

8. Ullah A, Ali I, Noor J, Zeng F, Bawazeer S, Eldin SM, Asghar MA, Javed HH, Saleem K, Ullah S and Ali H (2023) Exogenous g-aminobutyric acid (GABA) mitigated salinity-induced impairments in mungbean plants by regulating their nitrogen metabolism and antioxidant potential. Front. Plant Sci. 13:1081188.

doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.1081188.

9. Ali, U.; Ullah, S.; 2022. Hydrothermal time model analysis of seed germination responses to osmotic stress and temperatures in Cicer arietinum L. varieties. Journal of Xi’an Shiyou University, Natural Science Edition. 18(12): 1279-1287. http://xisdxjxsu.asia.

10. Lalay, G.; Ullah, A.; Iqbal, N.; Raza, A.; Asghar, M.A.; Ullah, S.; 2022. The alleviation of drought‑induced damage to growth and physio‑biochemical parameters of Brassica napus L. genotypes using an integrated approach of biochar amendment and PGPR application. Environment, Development and Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02841-2.

11. Raees, N.; Ullah, S.; Nafees, M. 2022. Interactive Effect of Tocopherol, Salicylic Acid and Ascorbic Acid on Agronomic Characters of Two Genotypes of Brassica napus L. Under Induced Drought and Salinity Stresses. Gesunde Pflanzen. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10343-022-00808-x.

12. Ullah, A.; Tariq, A.; Zeng, F.; Sardans, J.; Graciano, C.; Ullah, S.; Chai, X.; Zhang, Z.; Keyimu, M.; Asghar, M.A.; et al. Phosphorous Supplementation Alleviates Drought Induced Physio Biochemical Damages in Calligonum mongolicum. Plants 2022, 11, 3054. https://doi.org/10.3390/ plants11223054.

13. Ali, S.; Ullah, S.; Khan, M.N.; Khan, W.M.; Razak, S.A.; Hafeez, A.; Bangash, S.A.K.; Poczai, P. The Effects of Osmosis and Thermo-Priming on Salinity Stress Tolerance in Vigna radiata L. Sustainability. 2022, 14, 12924. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141912924.

14. S. Bibi, S. Ullah, Aqsa Hafeez, M. N. Khan, M. A. Javed, B. Ali, I. U. Din, S. A. K. Bangash, S. Wahab, N. Wahid, F. Zaman, S. K. Alhag, I. H. A. Abd. El-Rahim, A. E. Ahmed and S. Selimm. 2024. Exogenous Ca/Mg quotient reduces the inhibitory effects of PEG induced osmotic stress on Avena sativa L. Brazilian Journal of Biology, 2024, 84, e264642, https://doi.org/10.1590/1519-6984.264642.

15. Arshad, K.; Ullah, A.; Ullah, S.; Bogari, H.A.; Ashour, M.L.; Noor, J.; Amin, F.; Shah, S. Quantifying Osmotic Stress and Temperature Effects on Germination and Seedlings Growth of Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) via Hydrothermal Time Model. Sustainability 2022, 14, 12049. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141912049.

16. El-Beltagi, H.S.; Sulaiman; Mohamed, M.E.M.; Ullah, S.; Shah, S. Effects of Ascorbic Acid and/or α-tocopherol on Agronomic and Physio-biochemical Traits of Oat (Avena sativa L.) under Drought Condition. Agronomy 2022, 12, 2296. https://doi.org/10.3390/ agronomy12102296.

17. Wadood Shah, Noor Zaman, Sami Ullah and Muhammad Nafees. 2022. Calcium chloride enhances growth and physio-biochemical performance of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) under drought-induced stress regimes: a future perspective of climate change in the region. Journal of Water and Climate Change; 13(9), 3357 doi: 10.2166/wcc.2022.134.

18. Jalal Khan, Sami Ullah, Sikandar Shah, Sadaf, Sheharyar Khan, Sulaiman. 2022. Modeling the upshots of induced temperature and water stress on germination and seedlings length of radish (Raphanus sativus L.) via hydrothermal time model. Vegetos https://doi.org/10.1007/s42535-022-00490-4.

19. El-Beltagi, H.S.; Shah, S.; Ullah, S.; Sulaiman; Mansour, A.T.; Shalaby, T.A. Impacts of Ascorbic Acid and Alpha-Tocopherol on Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Grown in Water Deficit Regimes for Sustainable Production. Sustainability 2022, 14, 8861. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/su14148861.

20. Saeed, S.; Ullah, A.; Ullah, S.; Noor, J.; Ali, B.; Khan, M.N.; Hashem, M.; Mostafa, Y.S.; Alamri, S. Validating the Impact of Water Potential and Temperature on Seed Germination of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) via Hydrothermal Time Model. Life 2022, 12, 983. https://doi.org/10.3390/life12070983.

21. Shakir, U, U.; Ullah, S.; khan, M. N.; Ali, S.; Ali, U., Zaman, A.; Razak, S. A.; Ozdemir F. A. 2022. Effect of Thermopriming and Alpha-Tocopherol Spray in Triticum aestivum L. under Induced Drought Stress: A Future Perspective of Climate Change in the Region. Sains Malaysiana 51(4)(2022): 977-991. http://doi.org/10.17576/jsm-2022-5104-03.

22. Khan, S.; Ullah, A.; Ullah, S.; Saleem, M.H.; Okla, M.K.; Al-Hashimi, A.; Chen, Y.; Ali, S. Quantifying Temperature and Osmotic Stress Impact on Seed Germination Rate and Seedling Growth of Eruca sativa Mill. via Hydrothermal Time Model. Life 2022, 12, 400. https://doi.org/10.3390/ life12030400.

23. Noor, J.; Ullah, A.; Saleem, M.H.; Tariq, A.; Ullah, S.; Waheed, A.; Okla, M.K.; Al-Hashimi, A.; Chen, Y.; Ahmed, Z.; et al. Effect of Jasmonic Acid Foliar Spray on the MorphoPhysiological Mechanism of Salt Stress Tolerance in Two Soybean Varieties (Glycine max L.). Plants 2022, 11, 651. https://doi.org/10.3390/ plants11050651.

24. Ullah, A.; Sadaf, S.; Ullah, S.; Alshaya, H.; Okla, M.K.; Alwasel, Y.A.; Tariq, A. Using Halothermal Time Model to Describe Barley (Hordeumvulgare L.) Seed Germination Response to Water Potential and Temperature. Life 2022, 12, 209. https://doi.org/10.3390/ life12020209.

25. Showler, A. T., Shah, S., Sulaiman., Khan, S., Ullah, S., Degola, F. 2022. Desert Locust Episode in Pakistan, 2018–2021, and the Current Status of Integrated Desert Locust Management. Journal of Integrated Pest Management, (2022) 13(1): 1; 1–11 https://doi.org/10.1093/jipm/pmab036.

26. Nafees, M., Ullah, S., & Ahmed, I. (2022). Modulation of drought adversities in Vicia faba by the application of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria and biochar. Microscopy Research and Technique,1–14. https://doi. org/10.1002/jemt.24047.

**********

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: No

Reviewer #2: Yes: Amr Elkelish

Reviewer #3: No

**********

[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.

Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: PONE_D_23_13341.pdf

Physiology of gamma-aminobutyric acid treated Capsicum annuum L. (Sweet pepper) under induced drought stress

PONE-D-23-13341R1

Dear Dr. Iqbal,

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,

Haitao Shi

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments: