Cellulase and Xylanase Production by a Newly Isolated Penicillium crustosum Strain under Solid-State Fermentation, Using Water Hyacinth Biomass as Support, Substrate, and Inducer
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This manuscript reported a fungus from water hyacinth to produce cellulase and xylanase. The following questions should be solved.
1. It mentioned high cost for current enzyme production in the Introduction section, how about this work?
2. It mentioned in the abstract that the simultaneous cellulases and xylanases production reached are among the highest values ever reported. But no data in the text were found to support.
3. Before identification of strain, its name is unknown. Lines 146-167 and section 3.1 relating to the name of the strain should be rewritten. And the isolated strain is not included in Figure 1. Please check.
4. The controls for detecting enzyme activities should be described in lines 207-225 of section 2.
5. Figure 5 can be omitted.
There are syntax errors in the text, please check carefully.
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Manuscript-2450352 is related to the study of cellulases and xylanases isolated from Penicillium crustosum under SSF using a new type of substrate, water hyacinth biomass.
Abstract
The term “lignocellulolytic enzymes” is used, but the article does not contain data on enzymes that catalyze the destruction of lignin. I suggest to remove “lingo”.
Introduction
Information on the use of other fungi of the genus Penicillium in cellulosic conversion can be added https://0-www-mdpi-com.brum.beds.ac.uk/2073-4344/10/5/536 and https://0-pubs-acs-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/doi/10.1021/acs.jproteome.5b00542, other references may be added.
Materials and Methods
What was the pressure in the autoclave vessel during biomass pretreatment?
During the analysis of sugars after acid hydrolysis of biomass using HPLC was the solution used after neutralization? Not specified.
Conceptual question: what accounts for the choice of substrates for determining enzymatic activities? Why only CMC for cellulase activity? As a rule, filter paper as well as microcrystalline cellulose are used along with this substrate. In this case you can only talk about endoglucanase activity.
Results and discussion
Figure 5 is unnecessary, the data in the table is sufficient.
Conclusions
It is advisable to remove the phrase about pretreatment of hyacinth as it is (lines 549-550), since the manuscript itself contains no experimental data, such as changes in crystallinity. It is sufficient to indicate simply what the pretreatment was. In general, I would like to see in this section and in the article, what new microbiology and enzymology gives newly isolated Penicillium crustosum strain.
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The similar researches should be mentioned in the Introduction section, and the comparison between this study and the similar published results on cellulase and xylanase by Penicillium should be present in the text to support the last sentence in Abstract and the last paragraph in the Conclusion.
Author Response
Last suggestions from reviewer 1:
Reviewer 1: The similar researches should be mentioned in the Introduction section, and the comparison between this study and the similar published results on cellulase and xylanase by Penicillium should be present in the text to support the last sentence in Abstract and the last paragraph in the Conclusion.
Responses:
Similar researches were added to the Introduction section. This can be verified on lines 81-83.
The comparison of cellulases and xylanases production by others Penicillium strains, cultured on solid-state fermentation, was incorporated into the Results and discussion section. This can be verified on lines 368-376.
Reviewer 2 Report
The authors managed to respond to all comments, make changes and improve the quality of the manuscript.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer 2,
We deeply appreciate your comprehensive and detailed revision of our paper.
