Subtractive library hybridization was used to isolate the cDNA clones that corresponded to the transcripts that were specifically up-regulated during wheat embryo germination. The clones with numbers 5, 6, 7, 8, 24, and 26 appeared to be more abundant in germinating wheat embryos. Among the isolated clones, we identified four new members of the wheat "germin" gene family. We also identified two novel sequences which exhibited distinct germination up-regulation, and displayed characteristic spatial patterns of expression. One of these, represented by clone pSB10, was principally expressed in the root tissue of germinating embryos. The second was represented by the pSB7 clone and was expressed in both the root and shoot primordia of the embryonic axis, as well as within the coleoptile.