Genome-wide identification and characterization of the bHLH gene family in tomato

Background The basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) proteins are a large superfamily of transcription factors, and play a central role in a wide range of metabolic, physiological, and developmental processes in higher organisms. Tomato is an important vegetable crop, and its genome sequence has been published recently. However, the bHLH gene family of tomato has not been systematically identified and characterized yet.