Fig. 2: Collective FtsZ WT self-organization as a function of bending rigidity and attraction.
From: Chiral and nematic phases of flexible active filaments
a, Scheme of the simulation model. b, Phase diagram of the large-scale patterns (L = 212d, corresponding to the field of view in Fig. 1a) with varying filament flexibilities (measured by flexure number ℱ; vertical axis) and densities (horizontal axis). Filaments are colour coded according to the orientation of the bond vectors between beads. We observe the ring-like self-organization of rigid filaments (ℱ = 5), spatial coexistence of chiral rings and polar bands in the regime of semiflexible filaments (ℱ = 40) and disordered patterns with flexible filaments (ℱ = 200). c, Temporal coexistence of chiral rings and polar bands in a small simulated system (L = 42d) of intermediate density (Φ = 0.5) and filament flexibility (ℱ = 40). Filaments are colour coded according to the orientation of bond vectors between beads. d–f, Quantitative comparison of ring density and diameter between simulations and experiments (Methods provides details on the quantification and comparisons). The red solid line corresponds to the best match of filament flexibility and attraction (ℱ = 40, ε = 0.1kBT). The number of rings was determined from 4, 4, 9, 11 and 3 independent experiments at Φ = 0.12, 0.23, 0.40, 0.50 and 0.60. The ring diameter was measured from n = 27, 15, 63, 65 and 17 randomly chosen rings out of the experiments at increasing packing fractions. The dotted lines represent the mean; the shaded area, the 95% confidence interval; and the error bars of experimentally determined values, the standard deviation.
