Fig. 2. Determination of k_off, $k_{close}^j$ and $k_{open}^j$ for surface SAS-6 self-assembly.

a Lifetime (17.9 s, dashed blue line) of a 2-mer analyzed with PORT-HS-AFM, forming at 5.12 s and dissociating at 20.48 s (dashed blue arrows indicate association and dissociation). b Distribution of lifetimes of 2-mer, with exponential fitting (red line), yielding k_off = 0.046 ± 0.005 Hz; n = 30. c–f Representative images of SAS-6 rings of indicated symmetries (determined by the number of spokes) from N = 24 movies observed by PORT-HS-AFM. Note that ring diameter increases with higher fold-symmetries. g, h Lifetime of closed (g) and open (h) SAS-6 rings analyzed with PORT-HS-AFM; blue arrows indicate opening events, dashed blue lines lifetimes. See also Supplementary Movie 2. i, j Distribution of lifetime of closed (i) and open (j) rings with indicated symmetries and corresponding average lifetimes; The box shows the upper (75%) and lower (25%) quartiles and mean, the whiskers represent upper quartile +1.5*IQR (inter quartile range) and lower quartile −1.5*IQR, respectively. Asterisks (*) indicate statistically significant differences (F-ratio test on the means; see Supplementary Table 1 for p-values and number of transitions measured for each condition).