Our laboratories are interested in using recombinant DNA techniques to study the genetics of amino acid metabolism in soybeans. An especially useful technique used to study gene regulation is the in vitro synthesis of DNA com-plementary to mRNA; this cDNA can be used directly as a hybridization probe, or cloned and amplified in a suitable host. The protocol described here was developed for isolating total cellular poly{A)-containing RNA from soybean suspension culture cells of sufficient purity for use as a template for cDNA synthesis.