基于比较基因组学和相互作用组的方法，研究BHLH基因家族的起源，进化和功能的多样性.docVIP

  Origin, evolution and functional diversity of bHLH gene family: insights from comparative genomics and 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 interactomics# Min Mingwei, Xu Junli, Yizheng Zhang, Yue Bisong, Li Xiao** (College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China) Abstract: The basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) proteins make up of a complex multigene family of transcription factors that play the important roles in many biological processes. Although much effort has been made on their functional roles, their evolutionary origin and functional diversity remain to be clarified. In this study, we compared genomes and interactomes of bHLH gene families from model organisms such as human, fly, worm, yeast and Arabidopsis to shed light on origin, evolution and functional diversity of this gene family, inferring that bHLHs might origin in prokaryotes and undergo divergence in different linage because of distinct evolutionary force. Key words: bHLH; evolution; genomics; interactomics 0 Introduction Control of transcription is a major mechanism for organisms to regulate their gene expression to response to the environmental changes. The basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) protein superfamily is an ancient class of transcription factors that have been found in a wide range of eukaryotic organisms[1]. The bHLH proteins are named after the bHLH domain that is approximately 60 amino acids and contains a basic region followed by two helices separated by a variable loop region (HLH) [2]. The basic region promotes DNA-binding and the HLH domain can interact with each other to form the homodimeric or heterodimeric complexes. Many bHLH proteins also include additional domains such as leucine zipper, PAS or orange domains, which are mainly involved in protein-protein interactions[3]. The bHLHs are defined as six groups named as A, B, C, D, E, F based on their different DNA-binding specify[1]. The bHLHs of group A and B bind DNA sequences referred to as E boxes (CANNTG)