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justdoingit justdoingit
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12 years ago
What is the specific relationship of the functional unit of contraction to the striated appearance of a skeletal muscle fiber?

I know the functional unit of contraction is sarcomeres and the two contractile proteins that compose the functional unit are actin and myosin but I don't know how to describe the relationship.
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12 years ago
The sarcomere, which extends from one Z line to the next Z line, is the repeating unit of the band pattern, and is the functional unit of contraction in striated muscle. The striated appearance of a skeletal muscle fiber results from partial overlapping of actin and myosin filaments. When contraction (i.e., fiber shortening) takes place, the appearance of changes is not due to shortening of the myofilaments but is due to the actin and myosin sliding past each other, which increases the degree of overlap between them.
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