Abstract Basic helix-loop-helix proteins (bHLHs), as one of the largest families of plant transcription factors, play important roles in plant growth development, stress response and secondary metabolism. In this study, the codon usage patterns of 106 bHLH genes from Vitis vinifera were calculated and statically analyzed using CodonW and SPSS, as well as the major influence factors on codon composition and properties were discussed. The results indicated that there was a super significant level (P<0.01) between GC1 and GC2 codons of Vitis bHLH gene family. By two-tailed test, the correlation coefficient of GC3 and GC1 or GC2 was not significantly correlated (P>0.05). The correlation coefficients for ENC with GC1, GC2 and GC3 were 0.1439, 0.0463 and 0.1766, respectively, all of which did not reach the level of significance, and a significant one existed between ENC and GCtotal of 0.1989 (P<0.05) . Nineteen preferred codons were further determined to be bias toward the synonymous codons with G or C, suggesting that selection pressure and mutation may result in the codon bias in grapevine bHLH gene family. These results provide an important theoretical basis for further research on molecular evolution, gene expression regulation mechanism and higher accurate prediction of bHLH gene member, which will be applied in grape resistance improvement.
