The receptors for human interleukin-3 (IL-3) and human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), hIL-3R, hGM-CSFR, respectively, consists of two subunits, alpha and beta, both of which are members of the cytokine receptor superfamily. Phosphorylation of tyrosine residues in the hGMR beta subunit and several cellular proteins is observed after hGM-CSF stimulation. We analyzed the role of tyrosine residues in the hGMR beta subunit and the nature of tyrosine kinase, JAK2, in hGMR signal transduction using several hGMR beta subunit mutants. In addition to the box1 region, a membrane distal region (a.a. 544-589) of the hGMR beta was required for c-fos activation. Only one tyrosine residue (Tyr577) existed within the region 544 to 589, and substitution of Tyr577 to phenylalanine in GMR beta 589 resulted in loss of c-fos activation. In contrast, the same substitution in a wild type receptor did not affect GM-CSF induced activities such as c-fos messenger RNA (mRNA) induction and proliferation, but the substitution abolished Shc phosphorylation. These results suggest that the activation of Shc is not essential for c-fos activation and several tyrosine residues cooperate for c-fos activation. It is well documented that IL-3 or GM-CSF activate JAK2 in BA/F3 cells. The role of JAK2 in IL-3/GM-CSF functions, however, is largely unknown. We examined the role of JAK2 in GM-CSF induced signaling pathways. Dominant negative JAK2 (delta JAK2) lacking the C-terminus kinase domain suppressed IL-3/GM-CSF induced c-fos activation and c-myc activation and proliferation, suggesting that JAK2 was involved in both signaling pathways. Protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP-2 (also called PTP 1D) and Shc were phosphorylated by IL-3/GM-CSF in BA/F3 cells; however, these phosphorylation events were inhibited by the expression of delta JAK2. Taken together, these results indicate the JAK2 is a primary kinase regulating all the known activities of GM-CSF. JAK2 mediates GM-CSF induced c-fos activation through receptor phosphorylation and Shc/PTP 1D activation.