Molecular cloning of human GATA-6 DNA binding protein: high levels of expression in heart and gut.

Human GATA-6 has been cloned from foetal heart by a combination of PCR-based methods and cDNA library screening. The 3.8 kbp cDNA has a coding sequence of 1347 bp the 449 aa protein is virtually identical in the two zinc-finger binding domains to other human GATA sequences, but varies considerably in the amino and carboxy terminal regions. The sequence shows greatest similarity to GATA-6-like sequences from rat, mouse, chicken and Xenopus. Northern analysis and in situ hybridisation show that GATA-6 is expressed at high levels in human adult and foetal heart as well as in gut derivatives. It is postulated that GATA-6, in concert with GATA-4, plays a crucial role in the regulation of cardiac differentiation.