The genus Rubus (subfamily Rosoideae) contains an estimated 600-800 species distributed world-wide. Several of these, including black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis L.) are grown as crops. Since the early 1900s, the black raspberry industry in the United States has steadily declined due to lack of adapted, disease resistant cultivars. Renewed interest in production and breeding new cultivars has been fueled by news regarding potential health benefits of black raspberry bioactive compounds. We present a genetic linkage map comprised of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers derived from both genomic and expressed sequence tag libraries, and single nucleotide polymorphic (SNP) markers derived from genotyping by sequencing (GBS). The map was constructed using 93 progeny of the full-sibling population ORUS 4305 (ORUS 3021-2 x ORUS 4153-1). The map consists of seven linkage groups representing the seven haploid chromosomes of this diploid species. The consensus map covers 613.1 cM with the longest linkage group spanning 101.7 cM with 103 markers (G1) and the shortest spanning 77.6 cM with 61 markers (G7). The construction of a densely populated genetic linkage map will be used for quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping of economically important traits and for comparative genomic studies with other members of the Rosaceae.
