Self-organization of the MinE ring in subcellular Min oscillations

r. Conversely, for weak E-rings bothand the MinE to MinD stoichiometry strongly control the tip occupation and hence the depolymerization speed. MinE rings in vivo are close to the threshold between weak and strong, and so MinD-filament depolymerization speed should be sensitive to cell shape, stoichiometry, and the MinE-rebinding rate. We also find that the transient to MinE-ring formation is quite long in the appropriate open geometry for assays of ATPase activity in vitro, explaining the long delays of ATPase activity observed for smaller MinE concentrations in those assays without the need to invoke cooperative MinE activity.