Molecular markers have become fundamental tools for crop genome study. The objective of this study was to construct a genetic linkage map for cowpea with PCR-based molecular markers. Five hundred and twenty random RAPD primers were screened for parental polymorphism. Ninety RAPD markers from sixty primers was segregated in 75 F2 mapping population derived from the cross of local cultivars GSC01 and GSC02. 70 RAPD markers were found to be genetically linked and formed 11 linkage groups. Linkage map spanned 474.1 cM across all 11 linkage groups. There are six linkage groups of 40 cM or more, and five smaller linkage groups range from 4.9 to 24.8 cM. The average linkage distance between pairs of markers among all linkage groups was 6.87 cM. The number of markers per linkage group ranged from 2 to 32. The longest group 1 spans 190.6 cM, while the length of shortest group 11 is 4.9 cM. This map is further needed to be saturated with the various markers such as RFLP, AFLP, SSR and more various populations and primers. In addition, morphological markers and biochemical markers should be united to construct a comprehensive linkage map

The objective of this study was to develop a linkage map of soybean under the genetic background of Korean soybean. A set of 89 F/sub 5/ lines was developed from a cross between 'Pureunkong', which was released for soy-bean sprout, and 'Jinpumkong 2', which had no beany taste in seed due to lack of lipoxygenase 1, 2, and 3. A linkage map was constructed for this population with a set of 113 genetic markers including 7 restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers, 79 randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers, 24 simple sequence repeat(SSR) markers, and 3 morphological markers. The map defined approximately 807.4 cM of the soybean genome comprising 25 linkage groups with 98 polymorphic markers. Fifteen markers remained unlinked. Seventeen linkage groups identified here could be assigned to the respective 13 linkage groups in the USDA soybean genetic map. RFLP and SSR markers segregated at only single genetic loci. Fourteen of the 25 linkage groups contained at least one SSR marker locus. Map positions of most of the SSR loci and their linkages with RFLP markers were consistent with previous reports of the USDA soybean linkage groups. For RAPD, banding patterns of 13 decamer primers showed independent segregations at two or more marker loci for each primer. Only the segregation at op Y07 locus was expressed with codominant manner among all RAPD loci. As the soybean genetic map in our study is more updated, molecular approaches of agronomically important genes would be useful to improve Korean soybean improvement.