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Referee Comments: Referee 2

Posted by PLOS_ONE_Group on 12 May 2008 at 18:41 GMT

Referee 2's review:

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N.B. These are the comments made by the referee when reviewing an earlier version of this paper. Prior to publication, the manuscript has been revised in light of these comments and to address other editorial requirements.
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What are the main claims of the paper?
This paper describes an approach for screening genetically modified mice for mutant lines that affect long-term memory. The authors used fear conditioning to screen 54 mouse lines available from public repositories and published studies. They confirmed to new mutants (IthB2 and SoatI) that are specifically disrupted in remote memory.

Are the claims properly placed in the context of the previous literature?
Yes.

Do the experimental data support the claims? If not, what other evidence is required?

Yes. None

Who would find this paper of interest? And why?

Paper would be interested to anyone working on the cellular or molecular mechanisms of learning as it defines new potential molecular mechanisms. The paper may also be of some interest to mouse geneticists generally as it provides an estimate of the frequency of behavioral phenotypes that may arise in mutant lines.

In what further directions would it be useful to take the current research?

Two obvious lines would be to characterize the newly identified mutants in more detail at the cellular and biochemical level and to screen large number of new mutant lines for behavioral deficits.