DNA nanotechnology and bioassay development

Abstract

The capability of DNA molecule to self-assemble into a variety of nanostructures have taken this molecule out of its biological role to provide a foundation for the field of DNA nanotechnology. Actually, DNA nanotechnology utilizes DNA self-assembly to manage the spatial and temporal positioning of functional materials, and can be divided into two categories including structural and dynamic DNA nanotechnology. The structural DNA nanotechnology takes advantage of the ‘bottom-up’ DNA self-assembly to fabricate two- and three-dimensional objects via various sizes and complexity. In comparison, the dynamic type by using DNA strand displacement can create autonomous devices with moving parts and time-varying behaviors. Owing to their unique properties such as stability, tunable multifunctionality, and programmability of Watson–Crick base pairing, DNA nanostructures can provide a biosensing platform for the detection of various targets. In this review, we first offer a brief introduction of the DNA nanotechnology, followed by a comprehensive presentation of the advances on design and construction of different kinds of DNA nanostructures in detecting applications. Finally, we discuss the challenges and opportunities that this technology provides.