Natively unfolded state for engineering nanoscale fibrillar arrays

A generic rationale for the fabrication of high aspect ratio fibrillar nanoscale arrays is described. The design emulates an intermittence effect observed for β-structured α-synunclein fibrils, reported herein, in a structurally unrelated α-helical fiber. The generated nanoarrays are composed of periodic nanosized segments separated at uniform distances of unfolded regions. These regions can be targeted for conformational binding and refolding with metal nanoparticle-peptide conjugates for the conversion of fibrillar arrays into nanoparticle arrays. The introduced concept opens new strategies for engineering novel nanoscale materials and devices.