Table 2 Tissue-specific expression patterns of ELOVL family members and key roles in lipid metabolism
ELOVL family member | Tissue expression | Notable tissues & functions | References |
|---|---|---|---|
ELOVL1 | Highly expressed in the skin | Maintains skin barrier function and sphingolipid levels | Isokawa et al. [20] |
ELOVL2 | Widespread expression in various tissues | Brain, liver, adipose tissue; involvement in multiple metabolic pathways | Slieker et al. [57] |
ELOVL3 | Highly elevated in BAT | Involved in BAT recruitment, prolonged cold exposure maintains elevated expression | Jörgensen et al. [21] |
ELOVL4 | Predominantly expressed in the retina | Essential for the synthesis of very-long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids for proper vision | Barabas et al. [2] |
ELOVL5 | Detected in several human tissues | Highest levels in testis and testis and epididymis due to high docosapentanoic acid (22:5n–6) | Castellini et al. [6] |
ELOVL6 | Ubiquitously expressed, especially in lipid-rich tissues | Found in BAT, WAT, and liver | Iizuka et al. [18] |
ELOVL7 | Expressed in most tissues except heart and skeletal muscle | High in pancreas, kidney, prostate, colon; low in lung, ovary, spleen, thymus | Ohno et al. [45] |