diff --git a/modules/@angular/compiler/src/template_parser.ts b/modules/@angular/compiler/src/template_parser.ts
index 8cda2520cd..fcc4c16a24 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/compiler/src/template_parser.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/compiler/src/template_parser.ts
@@ -431,7 +431,7 @@ class TemplateParseVisitor implements HtmlAstVisitor {
       attr: HtmlAttrAst, targetMatchableAttrs: string[][],
       targetProps: BoundElementOrDirectiveProperty[], targetVars: VariableAst[]): boolean {
     let templateBindingsSource: string = null;
-    if (attr.name == TEMPLATE_ATTR) {
+    if (this._normalizeAttributeName(attr.name) == TEMPLATE_ATTR) {
       templateBindingsSource = attr.value;
     } else if (attr.name.startsWith(TEMPLATE_ATTR_PREFIX)) {
       const key = attr.name.substring(TEMPLATE_ATTR_PREFIX.length);  // remove the star
diff --git a/modules/@angular/compiler/test/template_parser_spec.ts b/modules/@angular/compiler/test/template_parser_spec.ts
index e1db43c89a..69f523559c 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/compiler/test/template_parser_spec.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/compiler/test/template_parser_spec.ts
@@ -949,6 +949,12 @@ Reference "#a" is defined several times ("<div #a></div><div [ERROR ->]#a></div>
           ]))).toEqual([[EmbeddedTemplateAst], [ElementAst, 'div']]);
         });
 
+        it('should wrap the element with data-template attribute into an EmbeddedTemplateAST ',
+           () => {
+             expect(humanizeTplAst(parse('<div data-template>', [
+             ]))).toEqual([[EmbeddedTemplateAst], [ElementAst, 'div']]);
+           });
+
         it('should parse bound properties', () => {
           expect(humanizeTplAst(parse('<div template="ngIf test">', [ngIf]))).toEqual([
             [EmbeddedTemplateAst], [DirectiveAst, ngIf],