PONE-D-24-16831Fatty acid composition, total phenolic and total flavonoid contents, and antioxidant activity of Niger Seed (Guizotia Abyssinica) accessions collected from major producer areas of Ethiopia.PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Yayinie,

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Awatif Abid Al-Judaibi, PhD

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: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

Reviewer #3: Partly

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

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: I Don't Know

Reviewer #3: 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: No

Reviewer #3: 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: No

Reviewer #3: No

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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: This paper addresses the extraction method, compositions, and antioxidant activity assessment of Niger Seed in different regions and zones of Ethiopia. However, there is a lack of detailed exploration of the correlation between the compositions of Niger seed and their antioxidant potential, as well as their prospective applications. Furthermore, the paper falls short of providing adequate supporting evidence for the significant claims put forth.

• The author is advised to include additional content in the paper, such as providing more background information on topics like saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, exploring Niger seed applications as inactive ingredients, and correlating their composition can be applied in various industrial sectors i.e pharmaceuticals, hygiene care, and food.

• Furthermore, it is suggested that the authors incorporate insights into the differences in localities, climates, locations, and soil types among regions and zones to better elaborate on the relationship between Niger seed composition and specific geographical factors. Expand the discussion from the results obtained, and consider reporting the calibration curve as supplementary data rather than part of the main results.

• Recommended to address the ethics statement and approval regarding field sampling permits.

• The distinction between 80% and 100% methanol extraction is noted in the scavenging antioxidant, total phenolic content, and total flavonoid content but not in the fatty acid compositions, prompting a query about potential differences in this aspect.

• Additionally, the study mentions the poor correlation of flavonoids and phenolics contents with antioxidant activity, suggesting the need to support this observation with additional scientific reports to support the findings.

• There is a lack of reporting on the statistical analysis in Tables 4 and 5, necessitating a careful interpretation of each superscript (a-d) from the Tukey test analysis to clarify the comparators for the readers. A detailed explanation of the statistical findings is essential to enhance the understanding of the results presented in the tables.

• Based on these preliminary findings, the authors are encouraged to outline future research that can stem from the analysis and discuss the potential implications.

Minor comments:

• Table 2 does not directly align with critical aspects or does not contribute significantly to the understanding of the composition of Niger Seed; it may be deemed irrelevant in the context of this paper.

• There have been identified typographical, spelling, and grammatical errors that require careful attention. For instance, on Page 8, the term "IC50%", representing the inhibitory concentration, should not be presented as a percentage since it pertains to concentration or dosage. On Page 6, the phrase "sum upping" would be more appropriately replaced with "summing up."

• Page 4; Materials and methods (Na2WO4.2H2O) is Sodium tungstate dehydrate.

Reviewer #2: The original and interesting aspect to this work relates to sampling from different geographical/climatic regions, however the authors fail to make a strong case for this. The stated "core target" of this study was the assessment of the nutritional components of niger seed (Guizotia abyssinica) based on geographical origin, cultivation season and seed variety however the authors didn't establish how they intended to do address each of these questions nor how their findings related to their stated objectives. A more logical introduction setting out your objectives, structured study design including a map of sampling locations to assist the reader would have been helpful.

What seed varieties were sampled at each sampling site? Could differences in variety or seasonal variations account for your observations rather than geographical location, without this information we cannot draw any firm conclusions from your findings.

Data from one of their five sampling sites (HG/Wolega) falls well outside the expected range for fatty acid content in Guizotia abyssinica based on previously published findings and this discrepancy has not been be accounted for.

The Ferric Ion Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) is a more reliable assay for assessment of antioxidant activity and should't be too difficult to establish in your lab.

The manuscript would have benefited from professional editing prior to submission.

I have been unable to find any supporting information files despite authors stating they are included in the submission.

Reviewer #3: You have to track the mechanism of action using suitable computational techniques to support your data, such as network pharmacology, molecular dynamic simulation.

More biological assays are required

comparable studies with other species could be useful for data support

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

Reviewer #3: No

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PONE-D-24-16831R1Fatty acid composition, total phenolic and total flavonoid contents, and antioxidant activity of Niger Seed (Guizotia Abyssinica) accessions collected from major producer areas of Ethiopia.PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Yayinie,

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 Jan 04 2025 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,

Awatif Abid Al-Judaibi, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Journal Requirements:

Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

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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 #4: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #5: (No Response)

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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 #4: Yes

Reviewer #5: Yes

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

Reviewer #4: Yes

Reviewer #5: 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 #4: Yes

Reviewer #5: 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 #4: No

Reviewer #5: 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 #4: 1. The paper still contains some spelling error. Please thoroughly check every words.

2. I think it would be better if you provided separate tables for saturated and unsaturated fatty acid profiles or a single table with clear mentions of total saturated and total unsaturated fatty acid content to highlight the importance of Niger Seeds in nutritional point of view.

Reviewer #5: The paper presents a good comparative study of four main characteristics of Niger seed oil.

The manuscript already underwent thorough revision and most of the comments held against the original version have been solved already.

However, several comments and advices to the authors still can be offered:

1) The content and ratio of fatty acids, phenolics and antioxidants in seeds and seed oil is often different from those in the oil, as known ie. for Moringa oleifera https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2023.02.010 or even depend on oil production method. Was there an attempt to analyse also oil made from the samples? Were the results comparable? How about the effect of oil preparation method?

2) In the age of green solvents and sustainable sources, methanol-based solvent system is recommended for the extraction. While, no doubt, it is efficient and relatively low-cost, the method will be hard to apply for routine quality monitoring in most of modern countries due to environmental issues? Was there an attempt to use more environmentally friendly extractants, but the yield was too low? Did you try to optimize the conditions for another solvent? If so, please add the information for the benefit of others.

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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 #4: Yes: Sadia Akter

Reviewer #5: No

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[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.

Fatty acid composition, total phenolic and total flavonoid contents, and antioxidant activity of Niger Seed (Guizotia Abyssinica) accessions collected from major producer areas of Ethiopia.

PONE-D-24-16831R2

Dear Dr. Marie Yayinie,

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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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,

Awatif Abid Al-Judaibi, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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 #4: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #5: 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 #4: Yes

Reviewer #5: Yes

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

Reviewer #4: Yes

Reviewer #5: N/A

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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 #4: Yes

Reviewer #5: 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 #4: Yes

Reviewer #5: 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 #4: 1. A comparative analysis of Niger seed composition with other commonly consumed oilseeds would provide valuable context and highlight its unique nutritional attributes.

2. The study could benefit from a discussion of future research directions, such as investigating the potential health benefits of Niger seed in in vivo or clinical studies.

Amidst these suggestions, the study provides a thorough analysis of key compositional aspects of Niger seed, including fatty acid profiling, TPC, TFC, and AA assessment. This multifaceted approach offers valuable insights into the seed's potential health benefits. I think the research paper is ready to be published.

Reviewer #5: While the manuscript was properly revised, it could use a little bit of polishing touch, like changing the phrase "These result indicates" to either "This result indicates..." or "These results indicate...". Please invest a bit more time to smooth the text.

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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 #4: Yes: Sadia Akter

Reviewer #5: No

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