Fig. 1.
Phase behavior as a function of the fascin concentration. Low fascin concentrations are not sufficient to fundamentally alter the pattern formation in the high-density motility assay and at an actin concentration of ρ = 10 μM the characteristic travelling density waves evolve (A). Compared to the case without crosslinkers the density waves are less pronounced as the crosslinker slightly hinders the formation of density inhomogeneities. Above a critical fascin concentration of cc = 0.075 ± 0.025 μM the pattern formation drastically changes as constantly rotating rings evolve (B) that are either closed or open Movie S1). In the steady state all actin filaments are incorporated in rotating rings and fluctuations on the single filament level are entirely absent. All scale bars are 50 μm.