Assignment of the <i>TYK2</i> gene to equine chromosome 7q12-q13 (Brief report)

Tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) is a member of the janus kinase gene family and encodes an 1187 amino acid protein. All four members of the janus kinase family JAK1, JAK2, JAK3, and TYK2 associate with various cytokine receptors and mediate the signal transduction by tyrosine phosphorylation of downstream targets (YAMOAKA et al., 2004). Studies with tyk2 deficient mice demonstrated impairment of interferon α/β signaling (KARAGHIOSOFF et al., 2003). Mutations in the murine tyk2 gene are associated with increased susceptibility to infectious and autoimmune diseases (SHAW et al., 2003). The human TYK2 gene consists of 25 exons spanning 30,003 bp on human chromosome 19p13.2 starting at 10,322,209 bp. The objective of this study was to determine the chromosomal location of TYK2 in the horse by FISH and RH mapping.