ABSTRACT Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a destructive pathogen with a broad host range, long‐term soil survival, and is difficult to control. Silencing virulence‐related genes is a strategy for controlling Sclerotinia disease. In this study, we identified and characterised Sspdhx , which encodes pyruvate dehydrogenase complex component X in S. sclerotiorum . Sspdhx deletion exhibited significant impairments in growth, sclerotia development, infection cushion formation, and virulence, indicating that Sspdhx plays important biological functions in S. sclerotiorum . Sspdhx deletion also resulted in reducing acetyl‐CoA and ATP levels, and increased sensitivity to multiple environmental stresses. Exogenous supplementation with acetyl‐L‐carnitine partially restored the virulence of the Δ Sspdhx mutants. Transcriptomic analyses revealed that deletion of Sspdhx disrupts central carbon metabolic homeostasis, leading to broad transcriptional reprogramming that affects genes involved in vegetative growth, stress adaptation, and virulence‐associated processes. Application of exogenous Sspdhx ‐targeting dsRNA and host‐induced gene silencing in plants effectively silenced Sspdhx and attenuated the virulence of S. sclerotiorum . These findings potentially establish Sspdhx as a promising target for RNA‐based control strategies against Sclerotinia disease.
Shang et al. (Sun,) studied this question.