Self-assembly of Functional Nanostructures by Short Helical Peptide Building Block

The self-assembly of short peptide building blocks into well-ordered nanostructures is a key direction in bionanotechnology. The formation of beta-sheet organizations by short peptides is well explored, leading to the development of a wide range of functional assemblies. Likewise, many natural proteinaceous materials, such as silk and amyloid fibrils, are based on beta-sheet structures. In contrast, collagen, the most abundant protein in mammals, is based on helical arrangement. Similar to 3-sheet structures, short helical peptides have been recently discovered to possess a diverse set of funetionalities with the potential to fabricate artificial self-assembling materials. Here, we outline the functional roles of self-assembled nanostructures fonned by short helical peptides and their potential as artificial materials. We focus on the association between self-assembled mesoscale structures and their material function and demonstrate the way by which this class of building blocks hears the potential for diverse applications, such as the ftiture fabrication of smart devices.