Hybridization of Northern blots with a probe corresponding to the coding region of the bradykinin B2 receptor revealed a single transcript of approximately 4.0 kb. Using the same probe, we detected a 2.6 kb human cDNA clone that overlapped 103 bp with the 3' end of the known coding region and contained a classical polyadenylation site and a polyA tail. The gene for the human B2 receptor was isolated from a human placenta genomic library. Analysis of several genomic lambda clones indicated that the B2 receptor gene is organized in three exons. Genomic Southern analysis revealed the B2 receptor to be encoded by a single copy gene. In situ hybridization showed that the gene is located on chromosome 14q32. By testing different putative regulatory fragments in a luciferase reporter assay, a gene activating function of the 5' upstream region of exon 1 was demonstrated.