Comparison between the minimal model without MinE switch (skeleton model) and the MinE-switch model based on a linear stability analysis of the homogeneous steady state (Supplementary Information Section 10). Patterns grow out of small inhomogeneous perturbations of the uniform steady-state concentrations only within the shaded regions. The model without the MinE switch considers the attachmentdetachment cycle of MinD at the membrane (schematically shown as a lipid bilayer in blue and grey), as explained in Fig. 1a. The MinE-switch model has another latent MinE conformation that binds weakly to membrane-bound MinD-ATP. The resulting region of pattern formation covers a much larger area of the [MinD] versus [MinE] phase diagram compared to that predicted by the model without the MinE switch, which permits patterns to form only in a narrow diagonal stripe.