Transcription factors play an essential role in controlling gene expression during cardiac and vascular pathogeneses, Identification of regulatory genes in the cardiovascular system is a necessary step toward an understanding of the pathogenesis of congenital heart disease and acquired cardiovascular diseases. The Cys2/His2 type zinc finger genes are the single largest class of transcription factors in the human genome and many numbers of these krupple-like zinc finger genes have been found to be involved in cardiac development or cardiovascular diseases. In this study. we have identified two novel human krupple-like zinc finger genes named ZNF359 and ZFP28 from the human heart cDNA library. The complete human ZNF359 cDNA sequence is 3270 bp and contains a 1932-bp open reading frame (ORF) that encodes a 643 amino acid protein with an N-terminal KRAB domain and 16 C-terminus zinc finger CH, motifs. The ZFP28 cDNA sequence is 4104 bp and contains a 2076-bp ORF that encodes an 868 amino acid protein with an N-terminal signal peptide, two KRAB domains. and 14 C-terminal C2H2 zinc finger motifs. Northern blot analyses showed a strong expression of ZAF359 and ZFP28 in various tissues of adult human. A further analysis using human embryonic tissues (18-23 weeks) showed a development-specific expression pattern in heart. skeletal muscle. liver, lung, kidney, and brain, suggesting a role for these genes in embryonic development. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.