Peptide-based nanotubes and their applications in bionanotechnology

In nature, biological nanomaterials are synthesized under ambient conditions in a natural microscopic-sized labratory, such as a cell. Biological molecules, such as peptides and proteins, undergo self-assembly processes in vivo and in vitro, and these monomers are assembled into various nanometer-scale structures at room temperature and atmosphere pressure. The self-assembled peptide nanostructures can be further organized to form nanowires, nanotubes and nanoparticles via their molecular-recognition functions. The application of molecular self-assemblies of synthetic peptides as nanomer-scale building blocks in devices is robust, practical, and affordable due to their advantages of reproductibility, large-scale production ability, monodispersity, and simpler experimental methods. It is also beneficial that smart functionalities can be added at desired positions in peptide nanotubes through well-established chemical and peptide syntheses. These features of peptide-based nanotubes are the driving force for investigating and developing peptide nanotube assemblies for biological and non-biological applications.