As a continuation of the successful cooperation between GBM Young Investigators (https://gbm-online.de/younginvestigators.html) and Biological Chemistry, the third highlight edition about fascinating research activities of young research group leaders in Germany is published in this issue. Following on the two previous editions in 2019 (Hennig and Feige 2019a,b), the main goal of our study group is to reflect the breadth of the biochemistry and molecular biology communities rather than focusing on a specific scientific area. Once more, this has been achieved through a selection of excellent research articles and reviews. For the latter, Mandy Jeske and coworkers give an overview about the biological and molecular functions of LOTUS domain-containing proteins playing diverse roles e.g. in animal development (Kubíková et al. 2021). Pia Erdbrügger and Florian Fröhlich review “the role of very long chain fatty acids in yeast physiology” including the impact of mutations in biosynthetic genes (Erdbrügger and Fröhlich 2021). Representing the prokaryotes, Julie Zedler and David Russo, in their review, propose hypotheses and discuss future directions in the field of cyanobacterial protein translocation systems (Russo and Zedler 2021), while Alexander Westerman’s group provides an “RNA-centric view on gut Bacteroidetes” summarizing the role of non-coding RNAs in this phylum (Ryan et al. 2021). Switching back to eukaryotes, the series of reviews is rounded off with insights into the interplay between mitophagy and caspase activation, especially in the central nervous system, presented by Angelika Harbauer and colleagues (Wanderoy et al. 2021). The first of three research articles in this edition is about epigenetics in humans. Specifically, Martin Hengesbach’s team worked on N-methylation of adenosine by the methyltransferase complex consisting of the METTL3/ METTL14 heterodimer (Meiser et al. 2021). The second study focusses on single stranded DNA molecules that catalyze a broad rangeof chemical reactions, socalledDNAzymes.One of those is the 10–23 DNAzyme, which is of particular therapeutic interest as it can be designed to cleave essentially any target RNA sequence. In their publication, Ingrid Span und coworkers asked the question, howmonoand divalent metal ions influence the DNAzyme’s properties (Rosenbach et al. 2021). Last but not least, Antje Ebert and colleagues performed integrated Ca2+ flux and atomic forcemicroscopy analyses in human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes; an approach allowing for a deeper and more accurate profiling of disease-specific differences in cardiomyocyte contraction profiles (Malkovskiy et al. 2021). We hope that the broad readership of Biological Chemistry again enjoys reading this third Highlight Issue of the GBM Young Investigators. Before closing, we would like to acknowledge the Managing Editor of the journal – Torsten Krüger – for his continuous support. On behalf of the GBM Young investigators, Jürgen Lassak and Andreas Schlundt.

中文翻译：

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亮点：德国青年研究小组——第三版

作为GBM Young Investigators (https://gbm-online.de/younginvestigators.html) 与Biological Chemistry 成功合作的延续，本期发布了第三期关于德国年轻研究小组领导者精彩研究活动的精彩集锦. 继 2019 年的前两个版本（Hennig 和 Feige 2019a,b）之后，我们研究组的主要目标是反映生物化学和分子生物学界的广度，而不是专注于特定的科学领域。再一次，这是通过精选的优秀研究文章和评论来实现的。对于后者，Mandy Jeske 和同事概述了包含 LOTUS 结构域的蛋白质的生物学和分子功能，例如在动物发育中发挥不同作用（Kubíková 等人，2021 年）。Pia Erdbrügger 和 Florian Fröhlich 评论了“超长链脂肪酸在酵母生理学中的作用”，包括生物合成基因突变的影响（Erdbrügger 和 Fröhlich 2021）。代表原核生物的 Julie Zedler 和 David Russo 在他们的评论中提出了假设并讨论了蓝藻蛋白易位系统领域的未来方向（Russo 和 Zedler 2021），而 Alexander Westerman 的小组提供了“以 RNA 为中心的肠道拟杆菌观点”总结非编码 RNA 在该门中的作用（Ryan 等人，2021 年）。回到真核生物，Angelika Harbauer 及其同事（Wanderoy 等人，2021 年）提出了对线粒体自噬和半胱天冬酶激活之间相互作用的见解，尤其是在中枢神经系统中的相互作用，从而使这一系列评论圆满结束。本版中三篇研究文章中的第一篇是关于人类表观遗传学的。具体而言，Martin Hengesbach 的团队通过由 METTL3/METTL14 异二聚体组成的甲基转移酶复合物研究了腺苷的 N-甲基化（Meiser 等人，2021 年）。第二项研究侧重于催化广泛化学反应的单链 DNA 分子，即所谓的 DNAzymes。其中之一是 10-23 DNAzyme，它具有特殊的治疗意义，因为它可以被设计成基本上切割任何目标 RNA 序列。在他们的出版物中，Ingrid Span 和同事提出了一个问题，即单价和二价金属离子如何影响 DNAzyme 的特性（Rosenbach 等人，2021 年）。最后但同样重要的是，Antje Ebert 及其同事对人 iPSC 衍生的心肌细胞进行了综合 Ca2+ 通量和原子力显微镜分析；一种允许更深入、更准确地分析心肌细胞收缩曲线中疾病特异性差异的方法（Malkovskiy 等人，2021 年）。我们希望生物化学的广大读者再次喜欢阅读 GBM 青年研究者的第三期亮点。在结束之前，我们要感谢该期刊的执行主编 Torsten Krüger，感谢他一直以来的支持。代表 GBM Young 调查员 Jürgen Lassak 和 Andreas Schlundt。我们要感谢期刊的执行主编 Torsten Krüger 一直以来的支持。代表 GBM Young 调查员 Jürgen Lassak 和 Andreas Schlundt。我们要感谢期刊的执行主编 Torsten Krüger 一直以来的支持。代表 GBM Young 调查员 Jürgen Lassak 和 Andreas Schlundt。