The present invention relates to .DELTA.9 elongases, which have the ability to convert linoleic acid [18:2, LA] to eicosadienoic acid [20:2, EDA]. Isolated nucleic acid fragments and recombinant constructs comprising such fragments encoding .DELTA.9 elongase along with methods of making long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) using these .DELTA.9 elongases in plants and oleaginous yeast are disclosed.