Title: Gut Microbiota Analyses of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases from a representative Saudi
Population
Version: 7 Date: 15 Mar 2023
Reviewer's report:
Overall this is a good study of the analysis of gut microbiome in this case-controlled study of
Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease patient cohort among the Saudi population. The paper is
well written and analyses are not exaggerated.
One aspect that could differentiate the story further, is that I am curious to know whether there
were differences in microbial genera within the ileitis and ileocolitis (N=110, i.e., about 90%
of Crohn's patients in this study); and how could that compare to other forms of inflammatory
Crohn's disease (Gastroduodenal, jejunal)? It is not clear whether these were distinct metadata
considerations.
The results section can be elaborated with data more clearly. Currently it looks like the writing
focuses more on the experimental methods.
Minor issues:
The level of statistical significance is unclear between the different genera compared in Figure
4 bar graphs.  Even if unsignificant, a comparison of the healthy Vs UC could be shown in this
figure, with all the individual OTU data shown in the scatter.
Title: Gut Microbiota Analyses of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases from a representative Saudi
Population
Version: 7 Date: 15 Mar 2023
Reviewer's report:
Overall this is a good study of the analysis of gut microbiome in this case-controlled study of
Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease patient cohort among the Saudi population. The paper is
well written and analyses are not exaggerated.
One aspect that could differentiate the story further, is that I am curious to know whether there
were differences in microbial genera within the ileitis and ileocolitis (N=110, i.e., about 90%
of Crohn's patients in this study); and how could that compare to other forms of inflammatory
Crohn's disease (Gastroduodenal, jejunal)? It is not clear whether these were distinct metadata
considerations.
The results section can be elaborated with data more clearly. Currently it looks like the writing
focuses more on the experimental methods.
Minor issues:
The level of statistical significance is unclear between the different genera compared in Figure
4 bar graphs.  Even if unsignificant, a comparison of the healthy Vs UC could be shown in this
figure, with all the individual OTU data shown in the scatter.
Please review this paper.
user
Title: Gut Microbiota Analyses of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases from a representative Saudi
Population
Version: 7 Date: 15 Mar 2023
Reviewer's report:
Overall this is a good study of the analysis of gut microbiome in this case-controlled study of
Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease patient cohort among the Saudi population. The paper is
well written and analyses are not exaggerated.
One aspect that could differentiate the story further, is that I am curious to know whether there
were differences in microbial genera within the ileitis and ileocolitis (N=110, i.e., about 90%
of Crohn's patients in this study); and how could that compare to other forms of inflammatory
Crohn's disease (Gastroduodenal, jejunal)? It is not clear whether these were distinct metadata
considerations.
The results section can be elaborated with data more clearly. Currently it looks like the writing
focuses more on the experimental methods.
Minor issues:
The level of statistical significance is unclear between the different genera compared in Figure
4 bar graphs.  Even if unsignificant, a comparison of the healthy Vs UC could be shown in this
figure, with all the individual OTU data shown in the scatter.
assistant