Plants are one of the basic foods of humanity, and through them many animals are fed, which together with the same plants serve us as food. Without plants it is impossible to survive.
Plants grow with the energy they receive from the sun, along with water and carbon dioxide, to transform all that into glucose through photosynthesis. Glucose is then broken down by glycolysis, and this process makes plants eat and grow.
What researchers from various universities, including California, have done is to create a product: acetate, which can replace the products generated by glycolysis, and that product can be used for plant growth.
Acetate has been achieved by a two-phase electro-catalysis process, using electricity, water and CO2. And by applying this acetate to plants, they have grown without using sunlight.
The first tests were done with algae and yeasts, and it was observed that in total darkness the acetate made the plants grow, and also that they did so very efficiently.
The photosynthesis function of plants is very inefficient, and barely 1% of the energy received from the sun is converted into biomass for plants. But the researchers found that with the use of acetate, greater plant growth was achieved, despite being in the dark.
Later they also tried other products such as rice, lettuce, peas, etc… and found that in all cases the acetate significantly improved plant growth. And in total darkness.
The information has been published in Nature Food , and I suppose it will have to be reconfirmed with more tests, but I think it is important news that can change the way we grow plants today.
If this is confirmed, it would be possible to think of growing plants in closed systems without light, and not so much land would be needed for crops.
It would be a lot that could change agriculture in a few tens of years. Something very different from what we have today.
As I often say, time will tell.
EN 
ES