A beet cyst nematode (BCN)-resistant telosomic addition of B. patellaris chromosome 1 in B. vulgaris was used to isolate 6 RAPD markers linked to the BCN resistance locus Hs1 (pat-1). Southern analysis showed that the analyzed RAPD products contain either low-, middle or high-repetitive DNA. The relative positions of the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers and of the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) loci corresponding to the low-repetitive RAPD products were determined by deletion mapping using a panel of seven nematode-resistant B. patellaris chromosome-1 fragment additions. One RAPD marker, OPB11800, was found to be present in two copies on the long arm telosome of B. patellaris chromosome 1. These copies are closely linked to the BCN resistance gene and flank the gene on both sides. On the basis of the nucleotide sequence of OPB11800, sequence-tagged site (STS) primers were developed that amplify specific fragments derived from the two OPB11800 loci. These STS markers can be used in the map-based cloning of the BCN gene, as they define start and finishing points of a chromosomal walk towards the Hs1 (pat-1) locus. Two copies of the middle-repetitive OPX21100 marker were mapped in the same interval of the deletion mapping panel as the resistance gene locus and thereby belong to the nearest markers as yet found for the BCN gene in B. patellaris.