pathway modulates the code via regulation during axial patterning in vertebrates.

The body plan along the anteroposterior axis and regional identities are specified by the spatiotemporal expression of genes. Multistep controls are required for their unique expression patterns; however, the molecular mechanisms behind the tight control of genes are not fully understood. In this study, we demonstrated that the / pathway is critical for axial elongation. mice exhibited axial shortening with mild skeletal transformations of vertebrae, which were consistent with results in mice with tail bud-specific mutants of Lin28a. The accumulation of in mice resulted in the reduction of PRC1 occupancy at the cluster loci by targeting . Consistently, Lin28a loss in embryonic stem-like cells led to aberrant induction of posterior genes, which was rescued by the knockdown of . These results suggest that the / pathway is involved in the modulation of the ' code' via regulation during axial patterning.