Molecular cloning, tissue distribution and nutritional regulation of a fatty acyl elovl5-like elongase in large yellow croaker, Larimichthys crocea

In this study, the full‐length cDNA of fatty acyl elovl5‐like elongase was first cloned from large yellow croaker, Larimichthys crocea. The cDNA of elovl5‐like was 1551 bp, including a 5′‐terminal untranslated region (UTR) of 120 bp, a 3′‐terminal UTR of 546 bp and an open reading frame (ORF) of 885 bp encoding a polypeptide of 294 amino acid residues. Sequence comparison showed that the predicted protein revealed a high percentage identity (>80%) with Elovl5 from other marine fish species. Tissue distribution analysis revealed that the elovl5‐like was expressed highly in liver, brain and gill, and at much lower levels in stomach, intestine, heart and spleen. Quantity polymerase chain reaction showed that hepatic elovl5‐like transcription decreased significantly with the increase in dietary n‐3LC‐PUFA (P 0.05). These results demonstrate for the first time the presence and nutritional modulation of elovl5‐like cDNA in large yellow croaker. This could contribute to better understanding the process of n‐3LC‐PUFA biosynthesis in this fish species.