Hands-On Molecular Simulations to Discover How Plants Communicate

Type: Presentation

Description:
Plants need to respond to stresses, like drought or being eaten, by sending signaling molecules through the plant or changing the structure of their cell walls. Using computer simulations at the atomic scale, our group is studying how these signaling molecules are picked up by the proteins from membranes at the cell surface and how cell wall structure changes depending on humidity. Now you can see this too! Using interactive molecular dynamics simulations based on Newton’s laws of motion, you can control what happens at the nanoscale by adding forces to guide this process, while learning about the molecular simulations happening here at Michigan State University.