Fine mapping of the soybean aphid-resistance gene Rag2 in soybean PI 200538

The discovery of biotype diversity of soybean aphid (SA: Aphis glycines Matsumura) in North America emphasizes the necessity to identify new aphid-resistance genes. The soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] plant introduction (PI) 200538 is a promising source of SA resistance because it shows a high level of resistance to a SA biotype that can overcome the SA-resistance gene Rag1 from 'Dowling'. The SA-resistance gene Rag2 was previously mapped from PI 200538 to a 10-cM marker interval on soybean chromosome 13 [formerly linkage group (LG) F]. The objective of this study was to fine map Rag2. This fine mapping was carried out using lines derived from 5,783 F₂ plants at different levels of backcrossing that were screened with flanking genetic markers for the presence of recombination in the Rag2 interval. Fifteen single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers and two dominant polymerase chain reaction-based markers near Rag2 were developed by re-sequencing target intervals and sequence-tagged sites. These efforts resulted in the mapping of Rag2 to a 54-kb interval on the Williams 82 8× assembly (Glyma1). This Williams 82 interval contains seven predicted genes, which includes one nucleotide-binding site-leucine-rich repeat gene. SNP marker and candidate gene information identified in this study will be an important resource in marker-assisted selection for aphid resistance and for cloning the gene.