Delta-9 elongases and their use in making polyunsaturated fatty acids

A recombinant construct comprising an isolated polynucleotide comprising:

• (a) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide having delta-9 elongase activity, wherein the polypeptide has at least 95% amino acid identity, based on the Clustal V method of alignment, when compared to an amino acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO:127;
• (b) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide having delta-9 elongase activity, wherein the nucleotide sequence has at least 95% sequence identity, based on the BLASTN method of alignment, when compared to a nucleotide sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO:126;
• (c) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide having delta-9 elongase activity, wherein the nucleotide sequence hybridizes with the nucleotide sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO:126 under the following stringent hybridization conditions:
• 0.1×SSC, 0.1% SDS, 65° C. and washed with 2×SSC, 0.1% SDS followed by 0.1×SSC, 0.1% SDS;
• or
• (d) a complement of the nucleotide sequence of (a), (b) or (c), wherein the complement and the nucleotide sequence consist of the same number of nucleotides and are 100% complementary,
• wherein said isolated polynucleotide is operably linked to at least one regulatory sequence.