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Referee Comments: Referee 1 (Daoguo Zhou)

Posted by PLOS_ONE_Group on 16 May 2008 at 23:33 GMT

Referee 1's Review (Daoguo Zhou):

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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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Winnen and colleagues measured the rate of discharge of Salmonella effectors involved in inducing bacterial entry. Their novel approach suggests a hierarchical effector protein transport upon contact with the host cells. Computer simulation further confirmed the experimental observation. Data presented here, for the first time, provided a molecular explanation how these effectors are delivered in an orderly manner. I do have a few minor concerns.

1. The author cited a previous published work to indicate that SipA and SopE are delivered at the same time. To examine SopE and SptP in the same bacteria is not too complicated given the procedure described in this manuscript. Given the direct opposite biochemical activities of SopE and SptP, SopE data should be shown in addition to that of SipA.
2. The author concluded that SipA is injected earlier than SptP. This is based on one assumption: there is no effector leakage into the infection medium during the injection. If SopA is leaked to the infection media more than SptP, the conclusion might be different. A simple quantitative Western blot can solve this concern.