Chemiosmotic ATP synthesis by minimal protocells

Energy conservation is crucial to life's origin and evolution. The common ancestor of all cells used ATP synthase to convert proton gradients into ATP. However, pumps generating proton gradients and lipids maintaining proton gradients are not universally conserved across all lineages. A solution to this paradox is that ancestral ATP synthase could harness naturally formed geochemical ion gradients with simpler environmentally provided precursors preceding both proton pumps and biogenic membranes. This runs counter to traditional views that phospholipid bilayers are required to maintain proton gradients. Here, we show that fatty acid membranes can maintain sufficient proton gradients to synthesize ATP by ATP synthase under the steep pH and temperature gradients observed in hydrothermal vent systems. These findings shed substantial light on early membrane bioenergetics, uncovering a functional intermediate in the evolution of chemiosmotic ATP synthesis during protocellular stages postdating the ATP synthase's origin but preceding the advent of enzymatically synthesized cell membranes.