Assembly of bioinspired helical protein fibers

Advances in protein and peptide technologies not only enable the study of basic folding and function of natural structures but also the design of novel scaffolds with the ability to form assemblies of varied shapes and sizes. Tremendous progress has been made in our understanding of α-helices in nature especially in the context of the coiled-coil. The information gleaned from investigating coiled-coils has been used to design novel α-helical fibers with prescribed morphology and dimensions. This review focuses on the lessons learned from the assembly of natural coiled-coils and how this knowledge can be used to tailor helical fibers as novel bioinspired materials.