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Researchers have demonstrated that algae, yeast and mushroom-producing fungi can grow in darkness using acetate made from carbon dioxide and electricity. They have not shown that whole food crops can grow to harvest in complete darkness with this method. In crop experiments, plants incorporated acetate, but lettuce growth was inhibited at concentrations expected to increase biomass.
What the researchers actually grew in the dark
A 2022 study in Nature Food reported a hybrid inorganic–biological system that used electricity to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into acetate. The process had two electrochemical steps: first producing carbon monoxide, then converting it to acetate. The researchers supplied the acetate to green algae (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii), yeast and mushroom-producing fungus. Those organisms grew heterotrophically in darkness, using acetate as a carbon and energy source rather than relying on photosynthesis.
That is the demonstrated “without light” result. It applies to the tested microorganisms and fungus—not to whole crop plants grown from seed to harvest without light.
What the crop experiments showed—and did not show
The researchers used isotope-labelled acetate to track its carbon into plant metabolites and biomass. Their experiments covered lettuce, rice, pea, tomato, pepper, canola, cowpea, tobacco and Arabidopsis. The results showed that crop plants can take up and incorporate acetate; they did not establish that whole crop plants can replace photosynthesis with acetate and grow entirely in darkness.
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Lettuce was not a dark-grown crop success
Lettuce tissue (callus) was cultivated in darkness, while whole lettuce and the other crop plants received light during acetate-uptake experiments. More importantly, acetate concentrations expected to produce measurable biomass gains largely inhibited lettuce growth. The authors identified plant tolerance and improved acetate use as necessary steps toward crops that could be decoupled from biological photosynthesis.
How efficient was the system?
Hann and colleagues reported 57% carbon selectivity from CO2 to acetate in their electrochemical system. Carbon selectivity describes the system’s conversion result; it is not a measure of commercial farm performance.
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The authors also estimated that coupling the approach to existing photovoltaic systems could raise solar-to-food energy conversion efficiency by about fourfold compared with biological photosynthesis. This was a study estimate of potential, not a verified farm-level outcome or evidence that the approach is already cheaper or more sustainable in practice.
Why this is not yet a farming method
Turning electricity and CO2 into acetate, then using that acetate to support biological growth, is a laboratory demonstration—not a ready-to-use system for producing food crops. The crop experiments did not establish complete dark growth, and lettuce’s response showed a substantial biological hurdle even when acetate was available.
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Follow-on work also remains developmental. In 2024, UC Riverside described research on compact tomato plants for space agriculture. Associate professor Robert Jinkerson said, “Our work is focused on how do we actually grow plants without light and try to reduce and minimize the amount of light.” That statement describes a research goal; the coverage does not establish successful full-cycle tomato production in darkness.
A 2025 University of Southern Denmark article likewise noted that economically feasible production of meaningful amounts of sugar, methanol or methane by artificial photosynthesis had not yet been achieved by a research team. These developments help explain why a promising biological result should not be mistaken for commercial-scale crop production.
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Can you grow plants indoors without sunlight now?
For indoor growing today, an LED grow light is a practical conventional option when plants need supplemental or replacement light. It is separate from the acetate process described in the study. The study does not provide household instructions for dosing plants with acetate, and it does not support trying experimental acetate treatments on home plants.
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