Comparative essentialome analysis of six Pectobacteriaceae strains identifies conserved and strain-specific fitness determinants

This study presents transposon sequencing (Tn-seq) datasets generated to investigate gene essentiality in Soft Rot Pectobacteriaceae. Six bacterial strains belonging to the genera Dickeya and Pectobacterium were subjected to high-density transposon mutagenesis and grown under rich medium conditions. Illumina sequencing was used to map transposon insertion sites genome-wide. The resulting datasets were analyzed using the TNSEEK pipeline, enabling systematic and comparative identification of essential genes across strains. These data support the definition of a conserved core essentialome, as well as genus- and strain-specific essential genes, including genes associated with mobile genetic elements, defense systems, and prophage regions. The datasets provide a resource for comparative functional genomics and for studying the variability of gene essentiality across closely related bacterial pathogens.