A GhZIP4 gene fragment was obtained from cDNA and genomic DNA of upland cotton Sumian 18 by RT-PCR and PCR with the primers designed according to the assembled ESTs of Gossypium hirsutum.The result showed that:(1)The length of the GhZIP4 cDNA sequence was 1 487 bp,it contained an ORF comprising of 1 269 bp nucleotides which encodes 422 amino acids.The amino acids sequence had the characteristics of the ZIP protein,containing 8 trans-membrane domains and a variable region between the third and the forth trans-membrane domains that included two histidine-rich domains of ‘HRHSHPHG’ and ‘HSHGHGHD’.(2)Phylogenic tree analysis showed that the protein sequence of the GhZIP4 was highly similar to AtZIP4 of Arabidopsis ZIP family.(3)The full length of coding region of the GhZIP4 DNA sequence was 1 778 bp,containing three introns and four exons.All exon/intron junctions of the gene contained the gt/ag consensus splicing site.(4)Semi-quantitative analysis of the GhZIP4 expression showed that the gene highly expressed in stem,indicating that it may play an important role in dynamic homeostasis of some metal ion between root and shoot.