Primers based on a conserved nucleotide binding site (NBS) found in several cloned plant disease resistance genes were used to amplify DNA fragments from the genome of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). Cloning and sequence analysis of these fragments uncovered eight unique classes of disease-resistance related sequences. All eight classes contained the conserved kinase 2 motif, and five classes contained the kinase 3a motif. Gene expression was noted for five of the eight classes of sequences. A clone from the SB3 class mapped 17.8 cM from the Ur-6 gene that confers resistance to several races of the bean rust pathogen Uromyces appendiculatus. Linkage mapping identified microclusters of disease-resistance related sequence in common bean, and sequences mapped to four linkage groups in one population. Comparison with similar sequences from soybean (Glycine max) revealed that any one class of common bean disease-resistance related sequences was more identical to a soybean NBS-containing sequence than to the sequence of another common bean class.