On 2015 Feb 11, Marco Ventura commented:

I do not understand what is the novelty of this study. Very similar studies have been already published about the comparative genomics of the genus Bifidobacterium. Just as a remark for the authors and for the potential readers that are not from this field: see the following papers published in August 2014:

• Milani, C., Lugli, G.A., Duranti, S., Turroni, F., Bottacini, F., Mangifesta, M., Sanchez, B., Viappiani, A., Mancabelli, L., Taminiau, B., Delcenserie, V., Barrangou, R., Margolles, A., van Sinderen, D., and Ventura, M. 2014. Genome encyclopaedia of type strains of the genus Bifidobacterium. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 80(20):6290-302.

• Lugli, G.A., Milani, C., Turroni, F., Duranti, S., Ferrario, C., Viappiani, A., Mancabelli, L., Mangifesta, M., Taminiau, B., Delcenserie, V., van Sinderen, D. and Ventura, M. 2014. Investigation of the evolutionary development of the genus Bifidobacterium by comparative genomics. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 80(20):6383-94.

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On 2015 Feb 13, Heping Zhang commented:

Thanks for your comments. Our work regarding the comparative genomic analysis of genus Bifidobacterium began in 2013, which was finished in early 2014. As we found, the manuscript from your side had not been published elsewhere when we were submitting the manuscript or revising the manuscript according to the reviewers’ suggestions from PLOS ONE. Anyway, it’s very glad that consistent conclusions were reached by two teams independently, which proved the reliability of both researches. In future, Bifidobacterium genomics is likely to be one of our interests. We sincerely wish to cooperate with the team of Prof. Ventura, and all of the colleagues worldwide with enthusiasm on promoting advancement of this certain area.

On 2015 Feb 11, Marco Ventura commented:

I do not understand what is the novelty of this study. Very similar studies have been already published about the comparative genomics of the genus Bifidobacterium. Just as a remark for the authors and for the potential readers that are not from this field: see the following papers published in August 2014:

• Milani, C., Lugli, G.A., Duranti, S., Turroni, F., Bottacini, F., Mangifesta, M., Sanchez, B., Viappiani, A., Mancabelli, L., Taminiau, B., Delcenserie, V., Barrangou, R., Margolles, A., van Sinderen, D., and Ventura, M. 2014. Genome encyclopaedia of type strains of the genus Bifidobacterium. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 80(20):6290-302.

• Lugli, G.A., Milani, C., Turroni, F., Duranti, S., Ferrario, C., Viappiani, A., Mancabelli, L., Mangifesta, M., Taminiau, B., Delcenserie, V., van Sinderen, D. and Ventura, M. 2014. Investigation of the evolutionary development of the genus Bifidobacterium by comparative genomics. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 80(20):6383-94.

Enjoy the reading