We describe experiments which show that: 1) two previously identified members of the GATA family of transcription factors (both of which were originally called GATA-4) correspond to chicken cDNAs for two distinct factors (which we now refer to as cGATA-4 and cGATA-5); 2) another new member of this family corresponds to a third factor designated cGATA-6; 3) each of these mRNAs displays a differential expression pattern. The cGATA-5 gene is initially transcribed in the cardiac crescent prior to formation of the primordial heart tube. Following formation of the primitive heart, cGATA-5 transcripts are evident in both endocardium and myocardium as well as in other lateral plate derivatives. The cGATA-5 gene is also transcribed in the primitive embryonic gut and in late stage embryos is sequentially up-regulated in distinct segments of gastrointestinal epithelia as they undergo terminal differentiation. These studies thus provide novel insights into tissue-specific regulation by GATA-5, as well as into possibly overlapping regulatory functions for these three family members.