PONE-D-23-40410Modulation of Staphylococcus aureus gene expression during proliferation in platelet concentrates with focus on virulence and platelet functionalityPLOS ONE

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Reviewer #1: Yes

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

Reviewer #1: I Don't Know

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Reviewer #1: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

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Reviewer #1: The manuscript is presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English. A few minor changes are suggested:

- Line 210: It would be interesting to know how platelet counts in the units correlate with flow analysis of activation and apoptosis indicators.

- It is interesting to know the K levels, PH value and external inspection of the units (presence of clots) of the tested units in correlation with the gene expression as you found for example that for the CBS2016-05 strain, an upregulation of up to 7-fold was observed in the potassium transporter operon (kdpABCDE), with two such operons present in this strain (Line 406)

- Please include limitations of this study such as the fact that functionality depends on bacterial density.

- How might this be the source of delayed detection of PC units, which are typically held in blood banks for 5-7 days. What are the likely causes of missing detection of this bacterium during routine PC screening using automated culture systems?

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Reviewer #1: Yes: Anwar Rjoop

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Modulation of Staphylococcus aureus gene expression during proliferation in platelet concentrates with focus on virulence and platelet functionality

PONE-D-23-40410R1

Dear Dr. Yousuf

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,

Keun Seok Seo, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

All comments were appropriately addressed

Reviewers' comments: