text: A stepwise model for the emergence of chemiosmosis, a key element in the origin of life on earth, proposes that primordial organisms used thermal cycling as an energy source (thermosynthesis), functioning essentially as a heat engine:
  :self-organized convection in natural waters causing thermal cycling →
  :: added β-subunit of F ATP Synthase 
  :: (generated ATP by thermal cycling of subunit during suspension in convection cell: thermosynthesis) →
  ::: added membrane and F ATP Synthase moiety 
  ::: (generated ATP by change in electrical polarization of membrane during thermal cycling: thermosynthesis) →
  :::: added metastable, light-induced electric dipoles in membrane 
  :::: (primitive photosynthesis) →
  ::::: added quinones and membrane-spanning light-induced electric dipoles 
  ::::: (today's bacterial photosynthesis, which makes use of chemiosmosis).