Germplasm line J87-233 is resistant to soybean cyst nematode (SCN) rac
es 1, 2, 3, 5 and moderately resistant to race 14 with resistance deri
ved from 3 primitive sources, 'Peking', PI 88788 and PI 90763. F-2:3 p
rogeny of J87-233 and SCN-susceptible 'Hutcheson' cross were evaluated
for response to SCN races 1: 2, 3, 5 and 14. Linkage groups (LG) A, B
, F, G, J, M, N, S were tested with 215 genomic clones and 45 decamers
for parental genotypes. QTL for race 1 and QTL for race 3 were detect
ed on LG A2, the region of BLT65V and SCAR 548/563(1100/1025,975). The
cluster analysis of 12 soybean cultivars and 38 plant introductions c
onfirmed association of SCAR(1100/1025,975) with resistance to races 1
and 3, and suggested possible DNA rearrangements that might give rise
to new resistance specificities in the region. The highly significant
association of K69T marker with SCN race 1 resistance in conjunction
with its location, 18.5 cM from the reported QTL, exemplifies the impo
rtance of the QTL locus on LG G and suggests expansion of the Linkage
map in the LG G-terminal region. Detected interaction between loci on
LG A2 and LG G, and also with loci on LG F and LG M, may play a signif
icant role in the genotype-specific response to SCN. Identification of
two major regions on LG A2 and LG G for SCN resistance shows their ap
plicability to advanced germplasm, however, transmission of molecular
marker alleles indicates that applied markers are not yet reliable in
revealing all possible recombination events in breeding for SCN resist
ance.