Pseudomonas aeruginosa plasmid pMO75 was used as a delivery system to introduce random Tn5 mutations into the genome of Erwinia stewartii. Nineteen avirulent mutants were identified by screening for loss of wilt induction and water-soaking (Wts) on corn seedlings. Five new wts mutations were mapped to the left of wtsA, thereby enlarging the wts gene cluster to approximately 28 kb. Four Wts- mutations appeared to be unlinked to the wts cluster and may represent new pathogenicity loci.