The irreducibly complex ATP Synthase nanomachine, amazing evidence of design

“Various forms of this ingenious device are found in all forms of life.”

Thus, your statement, “But some anaerobic bacteria do not contain the enzyme ATP synthase” is apparently incorrect. If any bacterium is discovered without it, I would like to know about it.

In sum, all life depends on ATPase, but not all life depends on it for ATP production. Anaerobic bacteria use it to maintain pH balance instead. So ATPase must have been present in the very first cell. No known natural process could have built it up piece-by-piece, as you have suggested, because, without the entire apparatus, there is no living cell and therefore no evolution, even in theory.

Both, the water-energy gradient, and the energy-generating water turbine are necessary to produce energy for human use. Analogously, a proton- gradient, and ATP synthase motor proteins are necessary to generate ATP, the energy currency in the cell. Both are irreducibly complex systems. If one is missing, no deal. Both also require specified complex information, assembly instructions, to make the energy-generating plants. Instantiating both, specified, and irreducible complexity always requires a mind that has specific purposes, foresight, and goals. Energy supply is one of 3 core-essential features of life: energy, information, and the basic building blocks. ATP synthase and a proton gradient exist in all life forms, and had to emerge prior to when life started. So it cannot be invoked evolution to explain its origins. It is either intelligence,  or random, unguided stochastic lucky events.

1. ATP synthase is a molecular energy-generating nano-turbine ( It produces energy in the form of Adenine triphosphate ATP). It consists of two very different subunits that have to be externally and stably tethered together, just the right distance apart. The two major subunits (F0 & F1) are connected together by an external tether, and just the right distance apart. This tether doesn’t have anything to do with the functionality of either subunit but without it ATP synthase would not be able to perform its function. One of the subunits has to be embedded in the cell membrane so that an energy gradient can be formed. And the other has to be stably tethered to the membrane the proper distance away.
2. This is an irreducibly complex system, where a minimal number of at least five functional parts must work together in an interlocked way, in a joint venture to bear function. Individually, the subunits have no function whatsoever ( Not even in different setups). ATP synthase cannot be the product of evolution, because it had to be fully operational and functional to start life ( The origin of life has nothing to do with evolution). No life form without ATP synthase is known.
3. We know by experience that complex machines made of various interlocked subparts with specific functions are always created by intelligent minds.  Therefore, ATP synthas is definitely evidence of a powerful intelligent creator, who knew how to create power-generating turbines.

https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/q-a-with-michael-behe-what-s-wrong-with-theistic-evolution/8604/135

Mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell, can host up to 5000 ATP synthase energy turbines.  1 Each human heart muscle cell contains up to 8,000 mitochondria 2 That means, in each of the human heart cells, there are up to 40 million ATP synthase energy turbines caring for the production of ATP, the energy currency in the cell. The human heart has about 2 billion cells. That means, there are 80,000,000,000,000,000 or 80^15, or 80 quadrillion ATP synthase turbines operating in your heart alone.

Another staggering number is that there are about 100 000 mitochondria per fully-grown human oocyte. 3  Mitochondria are the most abundant organelles in the mammalian oocyte and early embryo 4

1. Peyman Fahimi: On the power per mitochondrion and the number of associated active ATP synthases 2021 Jun 14
2. Xianhua Wang: Mitochondrial flashes regulate ATP homeostasis in the heart Jul 10, 2017
3. Elnur Babayev: Oocyte mitochondrial function and reproduction 2016 Jun 1
4. Jonathan Van Blerkom: Mitochondria in human oogenesis and preimplantation embryogenesis: engines of metabolism, ionic regulation and developmental competence in Reproduction Sep 2004

Mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell, can host up to 5000 ATP synthase energy turbines. 1 Each human heart muscle cell contains up to 8,000 mitochondria 2 That means, in each of the human heart cells, there are up to 40 million ATP synthase energy turbines caring for the production of ATP, the energy currency in the cell. The human heart has about 2 billion cells. That means, there are 80,000,000,000,000,000 or 80^15, or 80 quadrillion ATP synthase turbines operating in your heart alone.
1. Peyman Fahimi: On the power per mitochondrion and the number of associated active ATP synthases 2021 Jun 14
2. Xianhua Wang: Mitochondrial flashes regulate ATP homeostasis in the heart Jul 10, 2017

Our chemical Eden: To figure out the origin of life might take a conceptual shift towards seeing it as a pattern of molecular energy 11 January 2016

The flow of energy across the membranes of the mitochondria occurs through a molecular Rube Goldberg contraption so elaborate it almost defies comprehension. A chain of dozens of proteins, each consisting of thousands of atoms, traps high-energy electrons (derived from food), and passes them down the chain like a bucket brigade. The movement of electrons through the proteins in the chain creates an electrical current, which is used to trap massive numbers of protons between the mitochondrion’s inner and outer membranes. The only escape for the protons is through another remarkable protein called ATP synthase. It is an engineering miracle, a nanomachine complete with a molecular rotor, stator and driveshaft, which, as protons fall through it, spins like a waterwheel – hundreds of times per second – to produce ATP.

https://aeon.co/essays/why-life-is-not-a-thing-but-a-restless-manner-of-being

Electric field of ATP synthase suggests enzyme has functions beyond catalysis
https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/electric-field-of-atp-synthase-suggests-enzyme-has-functions-beyond-catalysis/4015299.article