Genome-Wide Identification and Comparative Analysis of Elongation of Very Long-Chain Fatty Acid (Elovl) Genes in Echinoderms

Elongation of very long-chain fatty acid (Elovl) proteins is the critical rate-limiting enzyme that catalyzes the biosynthesis of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs). Echinoderms are extremely important research objects in various fields, such as regeneration studies and developmental biology. However, to date, the genome-wide characterization and analysis of Elovl genes in echinoderms have not been investigated. In this study, the identification and analysis of Elovl genes in 10 representative echinoderms were performed using bioinformatics methods. A total of 117 Elovl genes have been found in the studied echinoderms. The phylogenetic tree showed that all Elovl genes from echinoderms can be subdivided into 6 classes, Elovl3-like class, Elovl4-like class, Elovl5-like class, Elovl6-like class, Elovl7-like class, and Elovl8-like class. Furthermore, the selection pressure analysis suggested that Elovl genes in echinoderms were mainly constrained by strong purifying selection events. In general, this study provides a molecular basis for echinoderm Elovl genes and may serve as a reference for in-depth phylogenomics.