In addition, phylogenetic trees and multiple sequence comparisons indicated that AjELMO1 shares a high degree of structural conservation and sequence identity with other invertebrates and vertebrates ELMO1. Furthermore, we found that the abundance of AjELMO1 was increased in V. splendidus-challenged sea cucumbers and LPS-stimulated primary coelomocytes, and the phagocytosis activity of coelomocytes was significantly decreased under the induction of V. splendidus after silencing AjELMO1. These results showed that AjELMO1 plays an important regulatory role in response to pathogen infection. The gene discussed is ELMO1; the disease is infection.