Time series of enstrophy and plasma beta for run R, where the instabilities grow at lower growth rates than in run P (Fig. 11). The magneto-elliptic instability grows faster than the MRI, which is seen as the strong turbulence that develops in the core, while the underlying Keplerian flow is still laminar. Once the MRI saturates, the strain of its turbulence destroys the vortex spatial coherence. It is not conclusive if the vortex would have survived the magneto-elliptic instability had the MRI not destroyed it first.