The lower plant Physcomitrella patens synthesizes several long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs) by a series of desaturation and elongation reactions. In the present study, the full-length cDNAs for two novel fatty acid elongases designated PpELO1 and PpELO2 were isolated from P. patens using a PCR-based cloning strategy. These cDNAs encoding proteins of 335 and 280 amino acids with predicted molecular masses of 38.7 and 32.9 kDa, respectively, are predicted to contain seven transmembrane domains with a possible localization in the subcellular endoplasmic reticulum. Sequence comparisons and phylogenetic analysis revealed that they are closely related to other LC-PUFA elongases of the lower eukaryotes such as the Δ5- and Δ6-elongases of Marchantia polymorpha as well as the Δ6-elongase of P. patens. Heterologous expression of the PpELO1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae led to the elongation of Δ9-, Δ6-C18, and Δ5-C20 LC-PUFAs, whereas

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