Development of the DNA-based biosensors for high performance in detection of molecular biomarkers: More rapid, sensitive, and universal

The molecular biomarkers are molecules that are closely related to specific physiological states. Numerous molecular biomarkers have been identified as targets for disease diagnosis and biological research. To date, developing highly efficient probes for the precise detection of biomarkers has become an attractive research field which is very important for biological and biochemical studies. During the past decades, not only the small chemical probe molecules but also the biomacromolecules such as enzymes, antibodies, and nucleic acids have been introduced to construct of biosensor platform to achieve the detection of biomarkers in a highly specific and highly efficient way. Nevertheless, improving the performance of the biosensors, especially in clinical applications, is still in urgent demand in this field. A noteworthy example is the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) that breaks out globally in a short time in 2020. The COVID-19 was caused by the virus called SARS-CoV-2. Early diagnosis is very important to block the infection of the virus. Therefore, during these months scientists have developed dozens of methods to achieve rapid and sensitive detection of the virus. Nowadays some of these new methods have been applied for producing the commercial detection kit and help people against the disease worldwide. DNA-based biosensors are useful tools that have been widely applied in the detection of molecular biomarkers. The good stability, high specificity, and excellent biocompatibility make the DNA-based biosensors versatile in application both in vitro and in vivo. In this paper, we will review the major methods that emerged in recent years on the design of DNA-based biosensors and their applications. Moreover, we will also briefly discuss the possible future direction of DNA-based biosensors design. We believe this is helpful for people interested in not only the biosensor field but also in the field of analytical chemistry, DNA nanotechnology, biology, and disease diagnosis.