Crosslinking proteins modulate the self-organization of driven systemsElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c3sm50506e

The inherent activity of the cellular cytoskeleton is responsible for its unique properties but at the same time impedes its thorough understanding. It is extremely challenging to predict to what extent the specific properties of its constituents affect the overall dynamic properties. By using high density motility assays, we show that the interplay of only three components molecular motors, filamentous actin and crosslinking proteins is sufficient for an extremely broad range of self-organization phenomena. They range from the assembly of large-scale polar structures to contracting networks and crucially depend on the specific properties of the crosslinking proteins. In active systems like the motility assay, the dynamic self-organization is sensitively controlled by the specific properties of crosslinkers.