Wild-type and Mutant Muscle Sarcomeres, Drosophila larva

Normal or wild-type (left) and mutant (right) contractile muscle filaments of a Drosophila larva showing actin filaments (red) and myosin filaments (green). In normal contractile muscle filaments, the filaments are precisely arranged in a so-called sarcomeric pattern in order to generate enormous forces during muscle contraction. A loss-of-function mutation in the Mical protein causes dramatic defects in the regular arrangement of sarcomeric filaments. Dissected Drosophila third instar larva. Width of left image is 121 micrometers and width of right image is 177 micrometers. See B0009384 and B0009385 for individual images.