Identification and analysis of the mouse basic/Helix-Loop-Helix transcription factor family

The basic/Helix-Loop-Helix (bHLH) proteins are a family of transcription factors that regulates a variety of biological processes. Based on a previously defined consensus motif, we identified the complete set of bHLH protein family from the mouse proteome databases and carried out a series of bioinformatics analysis. As results, 124 mouse bHLH proteins were identified in this study, and 28 of them were additional bHLH proteins beyond the previous report. These 124 mouse bHLH proteins were classified into groups from A to F by the nomenclature and phylogenetic analysis. Statistic analysis of the Gene Ontology annotation of these proteins showed that the bHLH proteins tend to perform functions related to cell differentiation and development. Gene function enrichment analysis among six groups illuminated that the proteins in certain group tend to have special biology functions, so that the molecular function of the uncharacterized proteins in groups could be inferred.