Members of this family are involved in long chain fatty acid elongation systems that produce the 26-carbon precursors for ceramide and sphingolipid synthesis [1]. Predicted to be integral membrane proteins, in eukaryotes they are probably located on the endoplasmic reticulum. Yeast ELO3 (Swiss:P40319) affects plasma membrane H+-ATPase activity, and may act on a glucose-signaling pathway that controls the expression of several genes that are transcriptionally regulated by glucose such as PMA1 [2].

1: ELO2 and ELO3, homologues of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae ELO1 gene, function in fatty acid elongation and are required for sphingolipid formation. Oh CS, Toke DA, Mandala S, Martin CE; J Biol Chem 1997;272:17376-17384. PMID:9211877

2: Transcriptional control of yeast plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase by glucose. Cloning and characterization of a new gene involved in this regulation. Garcia-Arranz M, Maldonado AM, Mazon MJ, Portillo F; J Biol Chem 1994;269:18076-18082. PMID:8027068