PONE-D-20-16879

A comparison of aquaporin expression in mosquito larvae (Aedes aegypti) that develop in hypo-osmotic freshwater and iso-osmotic brackish water.

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

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Reviewer #1: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: This study examined expression of aquaporins in Aedes larvae reared under brackish and fresh water conditions. The general conclusion is that there is little change in the AQP levels, which suggests that there is little role in AQPs in relation to adapting to brackish waters.

My only major concern is without functional studies, such as RNAi, that that role of AQPs shoudl not be discounted. It might be worth mentioning there could be a role post-translational. The AQPs could have a role and expressional changes in other tissues.

Also, prolonged rearing of the larvae udner the conditions might have missed the changes that occurred earlier in larval development (worth mentioning, but not a major issue).

Otherwise, I have few other comments.

Specific points:

1. Check references

2. Double check figure references in text.

3. I would suggest combining Figure 2-4 into a single figure (since most show no significance).

4. Arrow labeling isn't consistent on Figure 5.

5. qPCR: Please provide evidence that 18s RNA (control).

6. Provide df and F values for stats.

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Reviewer #1: No

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A comparison of aquaporin expression in mosquito larvae (Aedes aegypti) that develop in hypo-osmotic freshwater and iso-osmotic brackish water.

PONE-D-20-16879R1

Dear Dr. Donini,

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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Cheers,

Dmitri Boudko. PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE