Welcome to 'The Epitranscriptome', an article collection from various Nature journals highlighting the role of mRNA modifications in RNA fate and gene expression.

The first report of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in 2006 revolutionized the field of stem cell research, demonstrating that it is possible to directly reprogramme adult somatic cells into a pluripotent, embryonic-like state by ectopically expressing a defined set of transcription factors. To mark the 10-year anniversary of the discovery, this Focus issue looks at how research on iPSCs and Embryonic stem cells (ES cells) has provided insight into the molecular basis of reprogramming, pluripotency and cell fate specification, and highlights progresses and limitations in translating stem cell research to the clinic.

Transcription is a fundamental step in the control of gene expression, which determines cell identity and function and enables cells to respond and adapt to changing cellular environments. Recent insights into the mechanisms that regulate transcription initiation, elongation and termination by RNA polymerase II highlight the complexity of these processes, which ensure the correct implementation of gene expression programmes.

The cellular sensing and relay of chemical and mechanical cues from the extracellular matrix (ECM) influences cell morphology, movement and function, and even cell fate. Our knowledge of the structure, biochemistry, biology and physics of the ECM has increased in recent years, as has our understanding of how the dysregulation of its formation, remodelling and function can lead to diseases such as fibrosis and cancer.

A web focus from Cell Death & Differentiation, Cell Death & Disease, Nature Reviews Cancer, Nature Cell Biology, Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology and Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. We hope you enjoy this focus including work from the world's most recognized experts in the field of autophagy.

Organelles bring order to eukaryotic cells, and their formation must therefore be tightly regulated but also sufficiently dynamic to allow adaptation to a changing cellular environment and correct inheritance. This Focus issue homes in on a selected set of organelles: the autophagosome, lipid droplets, peroxisomes and chloroplasts, and highlights both the common and unique features of their biogenesis and homeostasis.

Through exposure to internal and environmental stresses, cells are continuously at risk of accumulating molecular damage that could impair their functions. Thus, they have evolved protective quality control systems to either prevent errors from occurring, or, if damage has occurred, to detect abnormal macromolecules and initiate their repair or degradation.

The use of a planar sheet of light for illumination in fluorescence microscopy allows researchers to image sample Vol.s faster than possible with other current methods, while limiting light dosage. This collection of articles provides a brief overview of this exciting methodology and the biological research applications that it makes possible.

Cells rapidly adapt to changing nutrient availability, alter their metabolism to meet their changing needs and integrate this information about their metabolic state to drive cellular behaviour. Unprecedented insights are being gained into the molecular basis of how metabolic pathways interface with cell biological processes and how this can be disrupted in metabolic disorders.

During development, differentiated cells in a tissue reorganize to allow an organ to take its shape and position in the body. For these intricate tissue movements to arise, individual cells must integrate multiple signalling events and mechanical cues from their environment to change their behaviour. A better appreciation of morphogenetic control is crucial for understanding tissue homeostasis and disease.

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biologywas launched 10 years ago, in October 2000. To mark this occasion, we have commissioned a special Series of articles that revisits key topics that were of particular interest at that time and highlights the conceptual advances made in the past decade.

Nature Structural & Molecular BiologyandNature Reviews Molecular Cell Biologyhave teamed up to present an in-depth joint Focus on Signal Integration, with specially commissioned Reviews in each journal. These articles consider some of the key approaches used to study signaling networks, and discuss how various signals are integrated in different cellular contexts.