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Growing plants in total darkness

15.07.2022

Biologists from the University of California have figured out how to completely eliminate sunlight and still accelerate the growth of plants. Using acetate as a carbon source, scientists have successfully grown several crops and food microbes in absolute darkness.

The new approach turned out to be even more effective than the natural one - for example, the production of yeast without light accelerated by a record 18 times. The prospects for the technology are enormous, the authors argue - artificial photosynthesis will simplify farming in cloudy regions, it will also feed astronauts and colonizers of other planets.

Despite the fact that photosynthesis has been the main process that stimulates plant growth for millions of years, sunlight has never been an ideal source of energy. On average, crops absorb only 3% to 6% of sunlight. By studying various salts and esters, the scientists concluded that acetate—the main component of regular vinegar—may work as a more efficient replacement system for photosynthesis.

During the study, scientists gave acetate to plants, bypassing natural photosynthesis - all the studied objects were in dark chambers without access to artificial and natural light sources. The team tested their technique on a variety of organisms, including yeast, green algae, fungal mycelium, cowpea, tomato, tobacco, rice, rapeseed and green peas. The result showed that all these organisms can be grown in acetate media in complete darkness and, in some cases, even more efficiently than in sunlight.

Acetate-supported common algae grew four times more efficiently, and yeast production sped up 18 times, according to published data. The secret to the success of the new technique lies in the fact that acetate builds its molecular building blocks into the work of plant cells - with it, crops quickly convert carbon dioxide and water into useful substances to stimulate their own growth. This artificial photosynthesis has the potential to change the paradigm of how plants feed humans.

It has been found that a wide range of crops can use acetate to build it into the basic molecular building blocks the body needs to grow and thrive. With some of the breeding and engineering techniques that we are currently working on, we could grow crops with acetate as an additional source of energy to increase yields.

In addition to eliminating sunlight, artificial photosynthesis reduces land requirements and the environmental impact of agriculture. In the long term, this approach will come in handy both on Earth and in space. The increased energy efficiency of plants, for example, will allow more crew members to be fed at a lower cost.

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